Classroom Community amid Covid-19: A Mixed-Methods Study of Undergraduate Students in Introductory Mathematics and Statistics

TL;DR

This study explores how classroom community affects undergraduate students' learning and persistence in STEM during Covid-19, using mixed methods to analyze online, hybrid, and in-person courses at a private university.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the role of course format, student demographics, and identity in shaping classroom community during the pandemic.

Findings

Synchronous participation enhances student connectedness.

Student identities influence their sense of belonging.

Course format impacts community development.

Abstract

A strong sense of classroom community is associated with many positive learning outcomes and is a critical contributor to undergraduate students' persistence in STEM, particularly for women and students of color. This chapter describes a mixed-methods investigation into the relationship between classroom community and course attributes in introductory undergraduate mathematics and statistics courses, mediated by student demographics. The project was motivated by and conducted amid the Covid-19 pandemic: data were collected from online courses in the 2021-21 academic year and from hybrid and in-person courses in the 2021-22 academic year. Quantitative data was gathered from both students and instructors and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The primary instrument was the validated Classroom Community Scale - Short Form. These quantitative results are complemented and contextualized by thematic and textual analyses of focus group data, gathered using a newly developed protocol piloted during the 2021-22 academic year. All data comes from a highly selective private university in the United States. Preliminary practical implications of the study include the value of synchronous participation in fostering connectedness and the importance of attending to students' personal identities in understanding their experiences of belonging.