Validating Practices and Messages that Promote Women's Engineering Classroom Belongingness: An Intersectional Approach

Establishing and sustaining a sense of belonging is a necessary motivation with particular implications for student learning, including in engineering. Validation is a crucial component of the learning process, as it helps individuals feel a sense of belonging and purpose within their educational environment. Yet, there is a dearth of literature that speaks to practical classroom practices that validate women’s sense of belonging without putting the onus directly on them. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine validating practices and messages that contributed to women’s engineering classroom belongingness. This study used survey data of engineering students collected from nine 4-year institutions. Multiple regression analysis with interaction effects was used to understand how practices and messages differentially validated classroom belongingness when considering an intersectional lens. Our findings identified strategies that could help remedy classroom belongingness for women based on racial/ethnic representation in engineering, parents’ level of education, transfer status, and institution type. Instructors have a crucial role to play in fostering student belongingness, but it must be done with attention to the different practices and messages that speak to students about their fit in engineering. Identifying specific validating mechanisms practiced by both instructors and peers can provide engineering educators with concrete strategies to continue supporting women’s sense of belonging in the engineering culture. We conclude with recommendations of how to enact validating messages and teaching practices to promote classroom belongingness.