1. Strategies for Promoting Your Students’ Sense of Belonging
Kristin O’Connell and Carol Ormand,
SERC, Carleton College
June 20, 2018
This work is supported by the National Science Foundation through grants , , &

2. Outline of the session: (1.5 hrs)
Writing reflection
Presentation of key findings from the research literature
Think/Pair/Share about a well-intentioned but suboptimal intervention
Jigsaw exploration of research lit
Wrap up
Writing reflection - 3 minutes
Presentation of key findings from the research literature - 15 minutes
Think/Pair/Share about a well-intentioned but suboptimal intervention - 5 minutes
Jigsaw exploration of research lit - 60 minutes
Each of several different intervention types (e.g. belonging, values, etc)
Intro, 5 mintues - worked example
Part 1, 15 mintues - each group explores one intervention in depth
Part 2, 25 minutes - SWOT of the interventions in re-mixed groups
Wrap up, 10 minutes - individual thinking about what you will try
Wrap up - 5 minutes
Revisit TPS example, what could Prof X do instead?

3. Writing Reflection
Reflect on an academic moment that stands out to you where you felt (or feel) particularly at home - where you felt (or feel) you belong.
What are one or two things about that environment that fostered your sense of belonging?

4. Goals: By the end of this session, you will
Be able to define “belonging uncertainty” and describe how it undermines student academic success
Engage in self-reflection to make your courses (even more) inclusive and welcoming
Know about several key strategies for fostering students’ sense of belonging
Have a plan to implement at least one new strategy to foster students’ sense of belonging in one or more of your courses

5. Key Findings from the Research on Sense of Belonging
Everyone is susceptible to concerns about social belonging
Belonging uncertainty – is especially strong at transition points, such as moving from high school to college or from a 2YC to a 4YCU (Aguilar et al., 2014, Stephens et al., 2014).
Underrepresented students (including socioeconomic, race, gender, disabilities) are disproportionately susceptible to concerns about social belonging, and these concerns may negatively affect their academic performance (e.g. Aguilar et al., 2014; Walton & Cohen, 2011)
Academic and social setbacks, which are a normal part of transitioning to college, can instead feel like evidence of not belonging. This can be compounded by stereotype threat and personal stress.
There are many tools to foster belonging and normalize transitions have proven effective, including mentoring, peer cohorts, active learning, incorporating examples of diverse scientists, connecting content to careers, infusing societal relavance as well as noncognitive interventions.
Classroom setting
Short
Can dramatically mitigate belonging uncertainty
Positive GPA impacts
Benefit all students
Everyone can have concerns about belonging-even in rich diverse settings Underrepresented can be socioeconomic, race, gender, disabilities, and others

6. How noncognitive/social-psychological interventions work
Through effective social-psychological interventions, instructors can change how students interpret adverse or ambiguous events.
Adverse events:
Struggling to understand course material (lecture, reading, etc.)
Not doing as well as you hoped on an assignment or exam
Ambiguous events:
Not being invited to join a social gathering or study group
Being the one of the only [demographic subgroup] in a classroom
Receiving critical feedback on an assignment
Being praised for mediocre work
(Aguilar et al., 2014) How students interpret these events puts them on a path with one of two possible feedback loops (Aguilar et al., 2014). Using effective interventions, instructors can help set students on the “balancing” feedback loop.
Reinforcing feedback loop: The student interprets the event to mean “I don’t (might not) belong here.” That amplifies their concern, adding stress to their life and distracting them from their academic work. It makes it hard for them to study and learn, literally interfering with their cognitive function. That leads to poor academic performance, which reinforces their fear about not belonging, leading to a downward spiral.
Balancing feedback loop: The student interprets the event as something that happens to everyone, and which does not reflect on their potential to succeed. They respond by shrugging it off (treating it as a neutral event) or by re- doubling their efforts (treating it as a challenge they know they can overcome). That leads to improved academic performance, which reinforces their belief in their ability / potential, leading to an upward spiral.

7. Elements of successful noncognitive/ social psychological interventions
Specific: Address the specific underlying psychological concerns that prevent students from taking advantage of resources or support.
All students: Do not single out any individuals or groups, publicly or privately.
Research based: Use delivery methods that are particularly persuasive and long-lasting.
Stealthy: Implement an intervention stealthily -- avoid presenting an activity as an intervention. The research shows that stealthy approaches don’t feel controlling and don’t stigmatize students as in need of help (Yeager, Walton, Cohen, 2013)
Brief: Are brief; in many cases repetition is not needed.
Normalize: attribute daily struggles to the normal difficulties of the transition to college, not to evidence they do not belong in school in general (Yeager et al., 2016, Stephens et al., 2014)
Specific: thereby making students more likely to take advantage of those resources.
All students: Singling someone out reinforces the negative stereotype that they are worried about -- it says to them that you think they need extra help because they belong to a particular group.
Research based: Because we want the message to “stick.”
Stealthy: Because telling someone that you are trying to help them overcome a psychological challenge activates or reinforces the psychological challenge.
Brief: Repetition makes it more likely that students will figure out that you are using an intervention.

8. Think-Pair-Share:
Is this an effective social-psychological intervention? Why or why not?
Professor Jones wants all her students in a class for potential majors to succeed, and she hopes to increase the diversity of geoscientists. So she schedules a weekly help session for students who might be having difficulty, and she personally invites all the women and minority students to attend. (Modified from Aguilar et al., 2014, which has additional examples)
Discuss intended message & unintended message.

9. Jigsaw: exploration of the research literature on sense of belonging
EXAMPLE: Blackwell et al., 2007
Theoretical underpinnings: Carol Dweck’s research on mindset
Their intervention:
Addresses the underlying psychological concern of “am I smart enough to do this intellectual work”
What message does it deliver? The brain is a muscle that gets stronger with exercise
Who: NYC public middle school students
What: Attended 8 sessions about study skills and how the brain develops new neural connections and “gets smarter” when a person works on challenging tasks
Control group learned only about study skills
Students who believe that intelligence is fixed attribute academic setbacks to a lack of ability. Students with a growth mindset attribute setbacks to insufficient effort or poor strategy. This attribution determines how students respond to the setback.

10. Jigsaw: exploration of the research literature on sense of belonging
EXAMPLE: Blackwell et al., 2007
Results: Math grades of students in the control group declined, as is normal in the middle school years. Math grades of students in the intervention group improved over time, instead. Average difference in grades between the two groups was ~ ⅓ of a letter; see graph.
A similar study with high school students reduced the percentage of students who had to repeat algebra class (because they failed it the first time) from 24% to 9%.
Students who believe that intelligence is fixed attribute academic setbacks to a lack of ability. Students with a growth mindset attribute setbacks to insufficient effort or poor strategy. This attribution determines how students respond to the setback.
After working your example, you’ll be explaining this research study to people that have not read about it

11. Jigsaw, part 1: 15 minutes
In your group, you will read a short excerpt from the research literature and answer questions about what the intervention was, how it relates to belonging, how it is implemented, and what the data show about its effectiveness.
If you already do this in your teaching, tell the other members of your group how you incorporate it.
If you don’t already do this, discuss how you could incorporate it into one of your courses.
Be ready to describe the research excerpt to colleagues who have not read about it. (Each group is reading about a different intervention.)
Interventions:
Wilson and Linville (1982, 1985) - the transition to college is hard, and poor academic performance at first is normal
Cohen et al. (2006, 2009) OR Cohen et al 2009 & Miyake et al self-affirmation
Walton and Cohen (2007, 2011) - social belonging
Cohen and Steele (2002) and Yeager et al. (2013) - critical feedback with assurance

12. Jigsaw, part 2: 25 minutes
In your new, mixed groups, each member being the “expert” on one intervention:
Each member of the group shares their summary of the research they read about and their ideas for implementation
Fill in the intervention chart as each person speaks, so that you will have a handy reference with the key information about each of these interventions
As a group, conduct a “SWOT analysis” of the collection of interventions
What are the strengths of each intervention?
What are the weaknesses?
What are the opportunities?
What are the challenges to implementation?

13. Elements of successful noncognitive/ social psychological interventions
Specific: Address the specific underlying psychological concerns that prevent students from taking advantage of resources or support.
All students: Do not single out any individuals or groups, publicly or privately.
Research based: Use delivery methods that are particularly persuasive and long-lasting.
Stealthy: Implement an intervention stealthily -- avoid presenting an activity as an intervention. The research shows that stealthy approaches don’t feel controlling and don’t stigmatize students as in need of help (Yeager, Walton, Cohen, 2013)
Brief: Are brief; in many cases repetition is not needed.
Normalize: attribute daily struggles to the normal difficulties of the transition to college, not to evidence they do not belong in school in general (Yeager et al., 2016, Stephens et al., 2014)
Specific: thereby making students more likely to take advantage of those resources.
All students: Singling someone out reinforces the negative stereotype that they are worried about -- it says to them that you think they need extra help because they belong to a particular group.
Research based: Because we want the message to “stick.”
Stealthy: Because telling someone that you are trying to help them overcome a psychological challenge activates or reinforces the psychological challenge.
Brief: Repetition makes it more likely that students will figure out that you are using an intervention.

14. Think-Pair-Share: What could Professor Jones do instead, to achieve the same goal?
Professor Jones wants all her students in a class for potential majors to succeed, and she hopes to increase the diversity of geoscientists. So she schedules a weekly help session for students who might be having difficulty, and she personally invites all the women and minority students to attend. (Modified from Aguilar et al., 2014, which has additional examples)
Discuss intended message & unintended message.
Key issues: singling out students, may perceive singled-out help as gender and racial bias

15. Reflection What will you try in your own teaching in the coming year?
Where, when, how?
Will you collect data to assess the effect of your efforts?

16. References
Aguilar, Lauren, Greg Walton, and Carl Wieman (2014). Psychological Insights for Improved Physics Teaching. Physics Today, v. 67, n. 5, pp
Miyake, Akira, Lauren E. Kost-Smith, Noah D. Finkelstein, Steven J. Pollock, Geoffrey L. Cohen, and Tiffany Ito (2010). Reducing the Gender Achievement Gap in College Science: A Classroom Study of Values Affirmation. Science, v. 330, pp
Stephens, N. M., Hamedani, M. G., & Destin, M. (2014). Closing the social-class achievement gap: A difference-education intervention improves first-generation students’ academic performance and all students’ college transition. Psychological science, 25(4),
Tellhed, Una, Martin Backstrom, and Fredrik Bjorklund (2017). Will I Fit in and Do Well? The Importance of Social Belongingness and Self-Efficacy for Explaining Gender Differences in Interest in STEM and HEED Majors. Sex Roles, v. 77, pp
Tsui, L. (2007). Effective strategies to increase diversity in STEM fields: A review of the research literature. The Journal of Negro Education,
Walton, Gregory M. and Geoffrey L. Cohen (2007). A Question of Belonging: Race, Social Fit, and Achievement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, v. 92, n. 1, pp
Walton, Gregory M. and Geoffrey L. Cohen (2011). A Brief Social-Belonging Intervention Improves Academic and Health Outcomes of Minority Students. Science, v. 331, pp
Yeager, David S. and Gregory M. Walton (2011). Social-Psychological Interventions in Education: They’re Not Magic. Review of Educational Research, v. 81, n. 2, pp
Yeager, D., Walton, G., & Cohen, G. L. (2013). Addressing achievement gaps with psychological interventions. Phi Delta Kappan, 94(5),
Yeager, D. S., Walton, G. M., Brady, S. T., Akcinar, E. N., Paunesku, D., Keane, L., ... & Gomez, E. M. (2016). Teaching a lay theory before college narrows achievement gaps at scale. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(24), E3341-E3348.

17. Table from Aguilar et al., 2014:

18. Social-psychological interventions that are likely to backfire (modified from Aguilar et al., 2014)
Professor Doe wants all students to feel encouraged and capable in class, so whenever a student asks a question or offers a comment, he says it is a “great” question or comment. He is particularly enthusiastic if the student is a woman or person of color.
Professor Adams wants to avoid discouraging students with criticism on their homework assignments, so she doesn’t always call out their mistakes, particularly if the student is a minority, woman, transgender, or has a disability. She feels it is more important for them to feel successful than to correct every minor error.
Professor Smith is concerned about the high failure rate in his introductory earth science course. To encourage students to work harder, he starts the first class by telling the students how difficult the course is and that usually about 30% of the students fail. He tells them they will have to study hard, particularly if they think that their background preparation is weak.
Include these examples as a handout or use for additional discussions.