Investigation of Sense of Belonging to Engineering in Introductory-Level Pre-Engineering Classes

This paper presents the complete research results of an evidence-based practice investigating students’ sense of belonging in an introduction to engineering class. Studies have shown that student sense of belonging in the classroom, major, and institution can positively impact performance in future engineering classes and overall retention rates. Sense of belonging has been identified as particularly important to the retention of underrepresented minorities and females. This research project explores the effect of embedding small interventions designed to improve engineering pre-major students’ sense of belonging into a first year introductory engineering class. In addition, this study investigates the effect of the interventions on student demographics such as gender and race. This study has the potential to benefit first-year engineering education pedagogies by exploring the effectiveness of small interventions that can be embedded into busy course curriculum without significantly detracting from classroom time available for content focused on meeting course outcomes. This paper describes the design and implementation of the three interventions that were embedded into multiple sections of an introduction to engineering class and presents the results of quantitative and qualitative data analysis. In addition, the authors discuss the challenges and limitations faced during the project including survey design limitations, inconsistency of survey interpretation, questions related to effectively measuring sense of belonging, and student ability to discern change in sense of belonging. The team shares the methods they used to overcome these challenges and presents the lessons learned with an emphasis on best-practices and future recommendations. All work was completed with IRB approval and student identity protection. Introduction & Background Sense of belonging generally relates to self-perceptions of fit within a given context including classrooms, campus community, and affinity groups [1, 2]. Increased sense of belonging among students leads to higher levels of motivation and engagement as well as increased retention rates and academic performance [3-5]. Research indicates that females and underrepresented students (URM) have a lack of sense of belonging in STEM departments and in engineering, specifically [6-9]. Studies suggest that students’ sense of belonging can be positively impacted through interpersonal and academic validation which increases with positive classroom climate, appreciation of diversity, faculty connection, peer relationships, and growth mindset [1012]. A work-in-progress paper has been previously published and includes a full literature review related to this research project [13]. This research study took place at Western Washington University (WWU), a public master’s-granting institution with approximately 15,000 full-time undergraduate students. The Engineering and Design department at WWU offers four under-graduate only programs: Electrical Engineering, Plastics and Composites Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, and Industrial Design. Students who are interested in majoring in Engineering and Design at WWU must formally apply to their program of choice after completing a series of prerequisite courses. Prior to being accepted into a program, students are considered “pre-majors.” There are approximately 350 pre-majors and an additional 250 major level students enrolled in engineering and design at WWU. Recent institutional data has shown that number of female and URM students enrolled in engineering programs at WWU is far below the national average. In addition, the percentage of females in engineering has been declining since 2016 while the percentage of women nationally has been increasing. These trends are concerning and have been a focal point for recent departmental efforts related to improving equity and inclusion with a focus on increasing sense of belonging. The research team created a series of three simple interventions, embedded them into an existing course, and studied the impact on the development of student sense of belonging. The interventions were added into a first year, introductory engineering course (Introduction to Engineering & Design) with the aim of impacting as many students as possible early in their academic careers. The WWU Introduction to Engineering and Design (ENGR 104) course is a project based class that introduces students to the engineering design process and explores the role of creativity in design, team dynamics, 3D visualization, diversity of perspective, global impact of design, and ethics. All engineering and design students are required to take ENGR 104 as premajors, prior to applying to major. The majority of students take the course during their first year at WWU. The course is taught by a variety of instructors and has a class capacity of 50 students. The three interventions embedded into the course were 1) a collaborative activity establishing classroom norms, 2) a mid-quarter activity engaging students with the concept of growth mindset, and 3) instructor connection through scheduled one-on-one meetings with the students or other forms of connections during office hours and lab work. These interventions are discussed in detail later in the paper, along with rationale related to the design and implementation of the interventions. Surveys were administered to students to gauge if the sense of belonging (SOB) of the students was affected by any or all these interventions. Prior work: This research began as a collaborative study involving a university (WWU), community college (Whatcom Community College), and technical college (Bellingham Technical College) [13]. The rationale behind involving the three institutions was to allow for the involvement of students with differing demographics, backgrounds, educational goals, and character. This approach would allow the research team to investigate the impact of the same interventions on different student populations at different institutions. However, as summarized in the previous paper, the authors faced multiple challenges that impeded progress and complicated the study. Due to the different class requirements at each institution, various teaching styles among the instructors at each institution, and the challenges in collecting and interpreting the data per institution, it was determined it would be beneficial to focus the study on one institution. This would allow the team to simplify the study, gather and analyze additional data, and then determine whether or not to extend the study to additional institutions based on the initial results. Readers are encouraged to review the work-inprogress paper for a discussion of prior work including literature review, survey development, and discussion of initial results. Interventions: Design & Implementation: The interventions were chosen and designed specifically to encourage students to connect with other students in their classes, engage in self-reflective processes, and utilize available institutional resources. The researchers designed simple interventions to maximize the potential impact on students while minimizing the time required to administer the interventions. As is true with most engineering curriculum, course content is focused on course outcomes and, as such, there is often little unstructured time in which to integrate new content in an effective manner. The total class time required for all three interventions ranges from 1-2 hours which equates, on the higher end, to one class session per quarter. The researchers and instructors of the course agreed that the number of interventions and required time is reasonable without interfering with the core class material. These interventions are hypothesized to improve engineering students’ sense of belonging and selfefficacy in their majors [14, 15]. After considering course assignments and scheduling, the researchers chose a selection of ENGR 104 courses in which to embed the interventions: Fall 17, Spring 18, and Fall 19. Each course was taught by a different instructor however, the content of the interventions was consistent for each offering of the course. Two of the sections were taught by a member of the research team and a third section was taught by a faculty member who worked closely with the research team. An additional class section (Fall 19) participated in this study as a control group (no interventions were embedded but students were asked to complete the surveys). It is important to note that the interventions were not embedded into all available sections of the 104 course during the research period due to inconsistency in staffing which resulted in slight variations of the course. In additional, not all faculty members who were scheduled to teach the course were interested in embedding the interventions into their course. Classroom norms activity The goal of this activity is to promote a respectful and encouraging learning environment in and out of the classroom. By establishing expectations of classroom behavior, students gain a sense of ownership over the classroom environment and feel they are active members of the classroom community rather than passive observers. Instructors involved in this research had implemented this activity in the past and received feedback through anonymous student evaluations that this activity had created an inclusive environment in the classroom. On the first day of class, students were asked to individually reflect on their experience being a student and were asked to write down classroom norms that they think are important to achieve a respectful and encouraging learning environment. Then the students were asked to form groups of four members and discuss the individual norms developed individually. Together, the groups agreed upon two norms to be discussed with the class. A representative from each group presented the two norms developed with