PSII-12 Change in College Students’ Sense of Belonging as a Result of a Beef Cattle Production Tour

Abstract

Abstract Sense of belonging is a student’s sense of feeling accepted, valued, encouraged, and included by others in their discipline. Sense of belonging fundamentally influences behavior and is linked to academic and career outcomes. Recent projections indicate there will not be enough qualified college graduates for requisite STEM agriculture careers. Further, there is an ethnic disparity in STEM agriculture degree recipients. As Black and Hispanic students have higher attrition than White students in STEM, there is an opportunity to implement educational interventions to improve their sense of belonging and increase matriculation into the agriculture workforce. The objective of this study was to evaluate if an experiential learning opportunity, a five-day tour of the beef cattle industry, changed students’ sense of belonging with a focus on ethnicity. Procedures involving human subjects were approved by Texas State University IRB (#8309). Students from two universities attended a beef cattle industry tour in the Texas Panhandle in May 2022. Students toured facilities, interacted with industry professionals, and reflected on their experiences through daily entries in journals. Pre- and post-tests were administered via Qualtrics as identical questionnaire-based survey instruments immediately before and after the tour. Questions were adapted from previously validated instruments. Sense of belonging metrics were scored on a 5-point Likert scale where 1=Strongly disagree and 5=Strongly agree. Cronbach’s alpha for the pre-survey was 0.71 and for the post-survey was 0.74. Statistical analyses were conducted with SPSS v.26. Independent sample t-tests were used to evaluate the change from pre- to post-survey responses and one-way ANOVA was used to evaluate the difference in responses between ethnicities. Students (n = 21) were predominantly female (81%); attended Texas A&M University (67%) or Texas State University (33%); and were White (52%), Hispanic (33%), or Black (14%). We combined “Hispanic” and “Black” into a single independent variable to analyze differences between White (52%) and non-White (48%) students. Before the tour, there was a difference (P = 0.05) in sense of belonging between White (4.33 ± 0.16) and ethnic minority (3.73 ± 0.23) students such that White students had a stronger sense of belonging in agriculture. There was no change (P = 0.55) in White students’ sense of belonging as a result of the tour, from 4.33 ± 0.16 to 4.39 ± 0.44. However, there was a change (P ≤ 0.01) in ethnic minority students’ sense of belonging, from 3.73 ± 0.23 to 4.37 ± 0.27. Ultimately, participating in the tour increased Hispanic and Black, but not White, students’ sense of belonging. One potential benefit of implementing experiential learning opportunities in dynamic social environments is improving students’ sense of belonging, especially in careers/industries where ethnic minorities are underrepresented.