Share Your Square An Exploration of Student Belonging
Students created a collaborate quilt representing their levels of belonging. Researchers used mixed methods to investigate changes from previous semesters and themes.
Presented by:
Jason Whetten, Northern Arizona University
Abstract:
Understanding levels of student belonging in a large enrollment course has been a question in education for a long time. The current project asked students in a large course to design a quilt square to represent their belonging. These quilt squares were accompanied by short narratives. Researchers used mixed methods to investigate themes within the narratives and changes to levels of belonging and social integration between the current semester and past semesters. Uncovered themes included the importance of social connection, physical nature, and diversity. Further, significant changes to isolation and peer-support were seen for those who completed the quilt project.
Keywords:
Belonging, Action Research, Peer Support
Learning Outcomes:
1. Summarize how students enrolled in a large enrollment course understand belonging.
2. Apply similar creative projects within their own courses to increase feelings of belonging
3. Critique student data on the connection between physical nature and feelings of belonging.
Share Your Square An Exploration of Student Belonging
Hear it from the author:
Transcript:
Share Your Square Poster Audio Transcript
My name is Jason Whetten and I am an educational action researcher at Northern Arizona University. I
teach classes of over 600 students. One of the concerns that I have is fostering a sense of belonging
among students in a classroom this big. To investigate this, a group of students and I engaged in a mixed
methods study in Fall 2023. After administering a pre-test with instruments related to facets of belonging
and isolation, we asked each student to design a 2” quilt square with their own representation of
belonging. We also asked them to write a short narrative about their square and their feelings of
belonging. We administered a post-test and compared the scores of students prior to making their quilt
square and the end of the semester after the intervention. We found a significant change in peer-support
and feelings of isolation.
To further investigate these differences over time, a one-way ANOVA was conducted to compare average
scores from fall 2020, fall 2022, and fall 2023. Here we also found significance when comparing our quilt
making class to previous semesters.
To better understand our findings, Researchers used a mix of inductive structural and value coding to
investigate the 120 narratives provided by students. Two major themes emerged. The first was the impact
of social groups on belonging. This was expected, but what was unexpected is the emphasis on diversity.
The second major theme was the power of nature on a student’s reported level of belonging. Many
students on our mountain campus credit their belongingness to the flora around them.
Overall, as we have continued cycles of this research we are continuing to understand the power of a
community-based activity. This small activity has shown, among NAU students, to be a powerful
contributor to belonging.
References
Allen, K. A., & Bowles, T. (2012). Belonging as a guiding principle in the education of adolescents. Australian Journal of Educational & Developmental Psychology, 12, 108-119. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1002251.pdf
Hoffman, M., Richmond, J., Morrow, J., & Salomone, K. (2002). Investigating “sense of belonging” in first-year college students. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 4(3), 227-256. https://doi.org/10.2190/DRYC-CXQ9-JQ8V-HT4V
Walton, G. M., & Cohen, G. L. (2011). A brief social-belonging intervention improves academic and health outcomes of minority students. Science, 331(6023), 1447-1451. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1198364
Wolf, D. A. P. S., Perkins, J., Butler-Barnes, S. T., & Walker, T. A. Jr. (2017). Social belonging and college retention: Results from a quasi-experimental pilot study. Journal of College Student Development, 58(5), 777-782. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2017.0060