Asee peer logo

Investigating the Interplay of the Sense of Competence with the Sense of Belongingness in the Calculus-Based Mechanics Physics Course for Future Engineers

Download Paper |

Conference

2024 ASEE PSW Conference

Location

Las Vegas, Nevada

Publication Date

April 18, 2024

Start Date

April 18, 2024

End Date

April 20, 2024

DOI

10.18260/1-2--46049

Permanent URL

https://strategy.asee.org/46049

Request a correction

Paper Authors

biography

Jonas Oliver Kingery California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

visit author page

Fourth-year physics major at Cal Poly SLO, doing work in the field of Physics Education Research

visit author page

biography

Brian P. Self California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

visit author page

Brian Self obtained his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Engineering Mechanics from Virginia Tech, and his Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Utah. He worked in the Air Force Research Laboratories before teaching at the U.S. Air Force Academy for sev

visit author page

biography

Matthew J. Moelter California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo

visit author page

Currently a Professor of Physics at Cal Poly, Dr. Moelter received his BS from the Univ of California - Irvine and ScM/PhD from Brown University. Prior to arriving at Cal Poly he was an instructor at Sacramento State University and the University of Puget Sound.

visit author page

author page

Stamatis Vokos

author page

Laura Rios California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

Download Paper |

Abstract

Physics education research has identified numerous cognitive resources that students activate in their study of mechanics. In addition, targeted, topic-specific, research-based instructional interventions have been shown to be effective in helping more students in multiple institutional contexts to deepen their conceptual understanding of the material. On the other hand, serious obstacles to belongingness can neutralize any benefits that would accrue by cognitive interventions. In prior research, Sánchez and Ríos (2020) analyzed student perceptions of classroom structure, belongingness, and motivation in the calculus-based mechanics physics course for future engineers at a selective institution. In particular, they identified that in this institutional setting, belongingness was often connected with (and mediated by) an individual student’s sense of success in the course. In the present work, we extend this work by exploring the degree to which student success in responding to specific course-related questions posed in interviews correlate with their sense of local (temporally) sense of belongingness. This work is part of the multifaceted collaborative project “Mechanics of Inclusion and Inclusivity in Mechanics,” which is funded by the California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research Learning Lab. Our project involves physics and engineering faculty and students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Allan Hancock College, with support from education faculty at UC Santa Barbara and researchers from Tufts University, Oregon State University, and the University of Delaware (Newark).

Kingery, J. O., & Self, B. P., & Moelter, M. J., & Vokos, S., & Rios, L. (2024, April), Investigating the Interplay of the Sense of Competence with the Sense of Belongingness in the Calculus-Based Mechanics Physics Course for Future Engineers Paper presented at 2024 ASEE PSW Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada. 10.18260/1-2--46049

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2024 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015