Resonating feedback: the impact of feedback cycles on students' sense of belonging in an eighth grade biology classroom

Abstract

This classroom research project addresses the issue of middle school students' sense of belonging in their eighth-grade science classroom. Many students report a shift in relationship to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in the middle grades. Regular feedback cycles about classroom procedures and assignments were implemented in two sections of my classes and compared to a third section who provided written feedback only. Differences in students' self-reported sense of belonging in my classroom before, during, and after two responsive feedback cycles showed no significant differences over the treatment cycle, but different individual classes of students had significant differences between them in their sense of belonging throughout the treatment. The relationship between students' sense of belonging was compared with vocal participation and relationship to grades and achievement. There was a positive, non-significant relationship between belonging and classroom participation and students' grade point average. Student responses indicate further research on the interactions between peers and teachers and teaching strategies to mitigate peer influence and disciplinary issues is one possible next step towards increasing students' sense of belonging in the science classroom.