Sense of belonging in a large enrollment general chemistry course: change over a semester, gender and ethnic group differences

Abstract

Understanding students' sense of belonging across different demographics is crucial for supporting their learning and attracting and retaining students in STEM education. Studies show that sense of belonging in foundational courses like general chemistry is associated with academic achievement and success, highlighting the need to monitor and support early belonging variations. It was, therefore, aimed in this mixed-methods study to investigate how race and gender affect undergraduate students’ belonging and belonging uncertainty in a large-enrollment general chemistry course. The data were collected using a sense of belonging survey, which was administered to 141 students at the beginning and end of the 2023 spring semester. The end-of-semester survey comprised one more open-ended question where students reflect on their sense of relatability and underlying reasons. The Wilcoxon test was used to compare the beginning and end of the semester, while the Multivariate Kruskal–Wallis (MKW) test was employed to assess differences across gender and ethnic categories. Free responses from the end-of-semester survey were analyzed thematically to understand underlying concerns and reasons. The sense of belonging remained unchanged throughout the semester, but there was an increase in belonging uncertainty. While no significant difference was found across gender categories, the largest difference in belonging uncertainty was observed between the Hispanic/Latinx and Asian American/Asian ethnic categories. Course nature and students’ struggles, majors, career goals and interests, self-belief, classroom dynamics and settings were found to be associated with the overall sense of belonging as well as the increase in belonging uncertainty among the Asian American/Asian ethnic category.