INVESTIGATING SENSE-OF-BELONGING IN A SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM FOR HIGH-ACHIEVING, LOW-INCOME SCIENCE AND MATH STUDENTS

The Building Engagement in Laboratories, Networking, and Peer Groups (BELONG) in STEM project is an NSF-funded Scholarships in STEM (S-STEM) program for high-achieving, low-income students. Undergraduate science and math majors participated in a weekly peer group facilitated by a science graduate student. This program component was designed to build a sense of belonging among the scholars, particularly new transfers. This qualitative case study investigated the question: in what ways did participation in a weekly peer group impact students’ sense of belonging?” Semi-structured, hour-long interviews of the first cohort (N=11) in their second year of the program (Spring 2021) probed students’ definitions of belonging and the supports and challenges they encountered in BELONG program and in the peer groups. We started the coding process with an a priori codebook from a related study that was amended following a round of open coding. Four authors initially coded one transcript to develop the code book. Subsequently, dyads of authors completed coding of two transcripts each to discuss and develop the boundaries of each code. Once the code book was well established, two authors coded each transcript and disagreements were adjudicated by two other authors to build trustworthiness.

In addition to providing a definition of “belonging”, student’s responses to the interview prompts fell into three categories: interpersonal, intrapersonal, and academic experiences. The interpersonal benefits of the peer group were that they facilitated friendships (n=8), provided built-in time to de-stress (n=6), revealed shared identities with peers (n=6), and provided structure to building belonging (n=3). The interpersonal benefits of the peer groups were that students were pushed outside of their comfort zone (n=6), reduced isolation (n=5), allowed discussion about imposter syndrome (n=3), promoted inclusion (n=2), and built STEM identity (n=2). The academic benefits of the peer group included sharing academic struggles (n=7), building confidence with peers outside of the program (n=3), connected students to campus (n=3), and facilitated study partnerships (n=2). Overall, scholars expressed that participating in the peer group normalized their experience in STEM, revealing shared values, interests, and struggles.