Belonging in Science Classrooms: Investigating Factors Affecting Students' Contributions

• In Event: Analyzing Youths' and Teachers' Science Practices as a Vital Part of Learning and Instruction

Abstract

This paper explores how students’ perceptions of classrooms shape their contributions to classroom knowledge building in science across a wide range of classrooms. We examine the claim that when students feel a sense of belonging in class, they contribute more and perceive their ideas to be more influential in knowledge building. Data come from classroom exit tickets (n = 10,510) administered in 146 classrooms as part of a 10-state field test of a new middle-school science curriculum, OpenSciEd, which were analyzed using mixed effects models. We found that students’ sense of belonging predicted the degree to which they contributed ideas out loud in class, as well as the degree to which they perceived their contributions as influencing others.

Authors

• William R. Penuel, University of Colorado - Boulder
  Presenting Author

• Andrew E. Krumm, University of Michigan
  Presenting Author

• Carol Pazera, University of Texas at Austin
  Non-Presenting Author

• Corinne Singleton, Menlo Education Research
  Non-Presenting Author

• Annie Allen, University of Colorado - Boulder
  Non-Presenting Author

• Clarissa de Oliveira Deverel-Rico, BSCS Science Learning
  Non-Presenting Author