Building Belonging through Project-Based Learning: Bridging Communities in the Age of Disconnection

• In Event: Fostering Soft Skills and Belonging in Youth Development

Proposal

CIES Proposal
Title: Building Belonging through Project-Based Learning: Bridging Communities in the Age of Disconnection

1. Relevance to CIES 2025:
Project Belonging is a project-based leadership development program that seeks to nurture belonging and resilience in K-12 High-Schools and Middle Schools Project Belonging through a 5-hour asynchronous training program followed by a local project-based initiative led by students. Project Belonging was pioneered by the primary and secondary author of the proposal and is supported by an Innovation Grant (circa $750,000) awarded by the Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships. Project Belonging’s program objectives align directly with the theme of "Envisioning Education in a Digital Society" by utilizing digital tools to foster belonging, resilience, and empathy among students. As CIES 2025 focuses on the rapid transformations in society due to digital advancements, Project Belonging, which has engaged with 23 schools in 8 U.S States at the time of writing this proposal, addresses critical questions about how education can evolve in a hyper-connected world (First Author & Second Author, 2023). Specifically, it tackles the digital divide, addressing the growing need for social cohesion in digitally saturated environments (Miller-Idriss, 2020). Project Belonging demonstrates how digital tools can promote belonging and positive engagement among diverse groups of students across the United States of America.

2. Addressing the Need or Issue:
Project Belonging addresses several pressing issues:
● Combating Digital Isolation: In the digital age, hyper-connectivity has paradoxically increased isolation for many students (Author 1 & Author 2, 2023; Benevento, 2023). Social media and digital platforms often create superficial connections while exacerbating feelings of loneliness (Bandura, 2017; Allen, 2023). Project Belonging uses digital tools (i.e., learning management systems) for positive, meaningful bridge-building among K-12 students within and across classrooms by encouraging students to learn through collaboration. Every student, who participates in the program, joins a community of learners unified by the goal of cultivating belonging in their local communities and offers feedback via educational technology tools (i.e., Padlet and Canvas) to their peers.
● Lack of Belonging:
Isolation has been identified as a risk factor for school-based violence and polarization (Second Author, First Author, & Hruschka, 2023a; Ben-Porath, 2023). Many middle and high-school students report feeling disconnected from their peers and schools, which has been linked to poor academic outcomes and, in many cases, departures from the formal learning environment (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2024). Project Belonging directly addresses this issue by using project-based learning (PBL) to foster a sense of social connection. Students are encouraged to develop locally focused projects that not only promote empathy and understanding but also involve engaging in research-based activities such as conducting needs assessments of their own classrooms and schools. In this way, the students participating in Project Belonging are the primary practitioners in building belonging in their communities.
● Countering Educational Displacement through Community Resilience:
Educational Displacement, which is a term coined by the Second Author (2021) of this proposal following primary research on formerly radicalized youth, is a sense of invisibility in the classroom. Invisibility of voice, for example, renders a student’s story displaced from the classroom environment, which may lead a student to think that their story does not matter and, in turn, is less valued (Second Author & First Author, 2023; Hansen & Sullivan, 2023). Project Belonging counters Educational Displacement by offering students an opportunity to complete a training that builds their familiarity with factors that enhance belonging in a community followed by a project-based learning experience to actualize their learnings (Slate, 2023). In this way, resilience to Educational Displacement and isolation is supported through a conception of resilience that is collective and shared across a classroom and/or school (Second Author, First Author, & Hruschka, 2023b).

Conclusion:
Project Belonging is a highly relevant and impactful program that aligns with the CIES 2025 theme of "Envisioning Education in a Digital Society." By addressing critical issues such as the digital divide, marginalization (i.e., via Educational Displacement), and social isolation, the program demonstrates the potential for digital technologies to foster belonging, community engagement, and resilience.
 
References

Allen, D. (2023). Justice by means of democracy. University of Chicago Press.

Allen, D. (2016). Education and equality. University of Chicago Press.

Bandura, A. (2017). Mechanisms of moral disengagement. In Insurgent terrorism (pp. 85-115). Routledge.

Benevento, A. (2023). The necessity to recognize processes of radicalization from a socio-cultural perspective. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 57(4), 1418-1434.

Ben‐Porath, S. (2023). Learning to Avoid Extremism. Educational Theory, 73(3), 376-393.

Bottiani, J. H., Camacho, D. A., Lindstrom Johnson, S., & Bradshaw, C. P. (2021). Annual research review: youth firearm violence disparities in the United States and implications for prevention. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, 62(5), 563-579.

Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2024). Reported Hate Crime at School: 2018-2022. Uniform Crime Reporting Program, U.S. Department of Justice.

Hansen, D. T., & Sullivan, R. (2022). What renders a witness trustworthy? Ethical and curricular notes on a mode of educational inquiry. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 1-22.

First Author, & Second Author. (2023). Witnessing the Pathways of Misinformation, Hate, and Radicalization: A Pedagogic Response. In Education in the Age of Misinformation: Philosophical and Pedagogical Explorations (pp. 97-117). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

King, M.L. (2010). Strive towards freedom: The montgomery story. Beacon Press.

Miller-Idriss, C. (2020). Hate in the homeland: The new global far right. Princeton University Press.

Second Author, First Author, & Hruschka, T. (2023a). Building resilience to hate in classrooms: Innovation in practice and pedagogy to prevent extremism and violence in US schools. Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, 51(4), 313-331.

Second Author, First Author, & Hruschka, T. (2023b). The epistemology of extremism, bias, and violence in American schools: the shift from religious and racial profiling to social belonging and an identity-agnostic perspective. Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, 51(4), 292-312.

Second Author. (2021). How do people radicalize?. International Journal of Educational Development, 87, 102499.

Slate, N. (2023). Translating nonviolence: Ahimsa, satyagraha, and the civil rights movement. Peace & Change.

Authors

• Vik Joshi, Columbia University Teachers College

• Amra Sabic-El-Rayess, Teachers College at Columbia University

• Hurram Mansoor Chaudry, Columbia University Teachers College