Session Information
24 SES 12, Sense of Belonging, Meaningfulness and Participation
Paper/Poster Session
Contribution
The importance of sense of belonging - the degree of feeling accepted, included, respected and socially connected to other - has been recognized as one of the main factors in psychological well-being (Hagerty, Lynch-Sauer, Patusky, Bouwsema, & Collier, 1992; Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Pickett, Gardner, & Knowles, 2004). Lately, there has been a call for research addressing sense of belonging in academic fields (Good, Rattan, & Dweck, 2012). This study focuses on examining sense of belonging in university mathematics context. Earlier studies have underlined the importance of mathematics learning environments in supporting sense of belonging for students in subdominant groups, such as female students (Good et al., 2012) and first-generation students (Juarez, 2017). However, the exact relationship between perceptions of mathematical learning environments and mathematical sense of belonging has been unnoticed in previous research. Further, as previous literature on sense of belonging in higher education has often investigated program- or campus-level sense of belonging (e.g. Johnson et al., 2007; Maestas, Vaquera, & Zehr, 2007; Nuñez, 2009), there is general need to understand the role of learning environments in the formation of sense on belonging.
The traditional university mathematics education emphasises content delivery through axioms, definitions, theorems and their proofs. During the last decades in higher education research, new student-centred instructional practices have emerged with the emphasis on students’ own activity, responsibility and independence for learning (Baeten, Kyndt, Struyven, & Dochy, 2010). Accordingly, novel instructional practices have been introduced in university mathematics context. For example, Rasmussen and Kwon (2007) promote inquiry-oriented learning, Lesseig and Krouss (2017) argue for flipped learning, and Lahdenperä, Postareff, and Rämö (2018) report encouraging results from using the Extreme Apprenticeship method. However, the novel instructional methods are often course- or teacher-specific and do not consider the holistic view on studies, or the impact of the learning environments to psychological factors such as sense of belonging.
The research aims at identifying elements of learning environments that have the potential to positively contribute to students’ sense of belonging. The research question is: What kinds of perceptions do the students scoring high and low on mathematical sense of belonging have about mathematical learning environments? How do these perceptions differ? The research contributes to the development of effective instructional practices. Further, the research is motivated by the need to create inclusive and accessible learning environments in the field of university mathematics.
Method
The research is the first part of a longitudinal three-year study. The first data collection is conducted through a survey on the spring 2019 through the national Network for University Mathematics Educators (NUME) network, coordinated by the second author. Data is collected from all the Finnish higher educational institutions; the survey is sent to all of the students majoring in mathematics (10 institutions). The aimed amount of participants is N=300. Here we report results from this first data collection point. This study draws on the mixed methods approach. The survey consists on two parts: the quantitative part measures students’ sense of belonging and the qualitative part focuses on their perceptions of the learning environment. Students’ sense of belonging is measured by the Math Sense of Belonging Scale which has been created and validated in the context of higher education (Good et al., 2012). Confirmatory factor analysis is used to test the construct validity of the instrument. Perceptions about the learning environment are asked through open-ended questions. These questions address students’ perceptions of mathematics learning environments, by making students’ articulate their positive and negative experiences as well as their thoughts about an ideal mathematical learning environment. The Math Sense of Belonging Scale has been translated to Finnish and the whole instrument has been validated in two rounds of focus group discussions. After the first data collection, data will be analysed using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Cut-off points for those who score high (75 % percentile) and low (25 %) in mathematical sense on belonging will be used. An intersectional analysis will also include information about e.g. the students’ gender and languages. The perceptions of these students are compared using comparative qualitative contents analysis based on contrasting (Miles, Huberman, & Saldaña, 2014; Schreier, 2012) and coding method (Saldaña, 2016) to further explain the differences.
Expected Outcomes
We would present our preliminary results on this study. As the data collection is conducted this spring, we cannot report the conclusions just yet. However, hypotheses can be drawn. Drawing from previous research (Good et al., 2012), it is expected that female students are less likely to pursue mathematical career in academia. Therefore, we expect to see some gender differences in the results. The data collection survey leaves room for students to self-identify factors preventing their mathematics learning, participation, inclusion and sense of belonging. We expect students with high and low score from the sense of belonging scale to differ in terms of their perceptions of their learning environments. Our first results of the study do not only expand our knowledge of the mathematical learning environments in higher education, but also start to explain the intertwined connection of learning environments and sense of belonging. The results are expected to be used to promote equity in the mathematical community. We expect to further investigate how sense of belonging varies over time during students’ mathematical studies.
References
Baeten, M., Kyndt, E., Struyven, K., & Dochy, F. (2010). Using student-centred learning environments to stimulate deep approaches to learning: Factors encouraging or discouraging their effectiveness. Educational Research Review, 5, 243–260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2010.06.001 Baumeister, R.F., & Leary, M.R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 497–529. Good, C., Rattan, A., & Dweck, C. S. (2012). Why do women opt out? Sense of belonging and women's representation in mathematics. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102(4), 700. Hagerty, B. M., Lynch-Sauer, J., Patusky, K. L., Bouwsema, M., & Collier, P. (1992). Sense of belonging: A vital mental health concept. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 6(3), 172-177. Johnson, D. R., Soldner, M., Leonard, J. B., Alvarez, P., Inkelas, K. K., Rowan-Kenyon, H. T., & Longerbeam, S. D. (2007). Examining sense of belonging among first-year undergraduates from different racial/ethnic groups. Journal of College Student Development, 48(5), 525-542. Juarez, D. R. (2017). Creating an environment of success: Community college faculty efforts to engage in quality faculty-student Interactions to contribute to a first-generation student's perception of belonging (doctoral dissertation). Pepperdine University. Lahdenperä, J., Postareff, L., & Rämö, J. (2018). Supporting quality of learning in university mathematics: A comparison of two instructional designs. International Journal of Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40753-018-0080-y Lesseig, K., & Krouss, P. (2017). Implementing a flipped instructional model in college algebra: Profiles of student activity. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 48(2), 202–214. Maestas, R., Vaquera, G. S., & Zehr, L. M. (2007). Factors impacting sense of belonging at a Hispanic-serving institution. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 6(3), 237-256. Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: a methods sourcebook. Thousand Oaks: SAGE. Nuñez, A. M. (2009). A critical paradox? Predictors of latino students' sense of belonging in college. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 2(1), 46. Pickett, C. L., Gardner, W. L., & Knowles, M. (2004). Getting a cue: The need to belong and enhanced sensitivity to social cues. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30(9), 1095-1107. Rasmussen, C., & Kwon, O. N. (2007). An inquiry-oriented approach to undergraduate mathematics. Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 26, 189–194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2007.10.001 Saldaña, J. (2016). The coding manual for qualitative researchers. London: SAGE. Schreier, M. (2012). Qualitative content analysis in practice. Los Angeles: SAGE.
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