Building Belonging: "Fast Friends," collaborative quizzing, and multimedia group projects

Student motivation varies widely amongst physics learners, especially in large-enrollment general education settings. Motivation to learn is impacted by many factors, including the perceived usefulness or value of content and tasks, a student's expectation to succeed, feelings of autonomy in their learning experience, and a sense of belonging. One major path toward supporting motivation is therefore to encourage a sense of belonging in the classroom and social connectedness between peers, and between students and instructors. Inspired by the results of several years worth of affective outcomes (including self-efficacy and social connectedness) in my 100-level physics and astronomy courses, I have experimented with various practices that help build student-student connections and encourage a growth mindset and spirit of collaboration. These include "fast friends" icebreaker questions, collaborative quizzing, and multimedia group projects. In this presentation, I will explain why I selected these practices, including the resources and materials I referenced when planning my own implementation. I will describe how I have customized practices to best suit my class context, how they have impacted student perceptions and outcomes, and how my approach has evolved over time.