When students feel they don’t belong, it has “devastating effects on student motivation,” said Stanford psychologist Geoffrey Cohen in a talk at Yale recently.
First-generation college students, women in math and science fields and African-Americans and Latinos on mostly white/Asian campuses may feel an “apartness” that makes it harder to engage in class and keep trying.
Transitions — from elementary school to junior high, from high school to college — are critical, writes Annie Murphy Paul. Three interventions can counter the lack of belonging, says Cohen.
Students receiving feedback on an essay are told, “I’m giving you these comments because I have high standards and I know you can meet them.” Students experiencing a transition are told, “It’s normal and natural not to feel comfortable in a new situation. It will get easier.”
Students facing a challenge are asked to write about a value that’s important to them, an exercise that leads them to feel that, “I’m bigger than this. This challenge doesn’t define me.” After a one-hour discussion of the college transition, black college students earned significantly higher grades, shrinking the minority achievement gap by 52 percent, according to research by Cohen and a colleague.
This post originally appeared at joannejacobs.com.
Joanne Jacobs
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