First Advisor
Newman, Harmony
First Committee Member
Nelson, Kyle
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Document Type
Thesis
Date Created
12-2025
Department
College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Sociology, Sociology Student Work
Abstract
Social success and feelings of belonging within academic settings play critical roles in students’ continued engagement. Students who feel like they belong are more likely to perform better academically, create feelings of academic self-efficacy, and be more satisfied with their educational experiences (Aelenei et al. 2020; Baker 2013; Chen et al. 2020; Hoffman et al. 2021; Rosenthal et al. 2013; Smerdon 2002; Walton et al. 2012). I examine sense of belonging through analysis of secondary data focused on college student experiences in geology field camps. I approached the study using modified grounded theory (Charmaz 2014) in order to best capture the nuances of student experiences. Through my analysis, I identify a split in how students experience belonging and establish the concept of social despair. Field camp is a culminating application of geology training for undergraduate geology majors. Field camp is often regarded as a ‘rite of passage,’ and experiences at field camp can make multi-decade, if not lifelong, impacts on students’ future academic career paths. In field camps, students experience a heightened level of social integration with their peers, which highlights the barriers and contributing factors to “fitting in.” Current literature establishes that sense of belonging has an impact on academic performance (Aelenei et al. 2020; Baker 2013; Chen et al. 2020; Hoffman et al. 2021; Rosenthal et al. 2013; Smerdon 2002; Walton et al. 2012). My data suggests that belonging and academic performance have a reciprocal (as opposed to causal) relationship. Sense of belonging influences academic performance, but academic performance can also impact a student’s sense of belonging. Students identified sense of belonging on multiple axes with a divide between a purely social sense of belonging and an academic sense of belonging. Academic belonging is as central to student well-being as social belonging, and one may create scaffolding for the other. Data from field camps that moved online due to COVID emphasize this split due to the increased difficulty in achieving social belonging with forced distance. I establish the concept of social depair, a phenomenon in which students shifted focus to academic belonging when social belonging was inaccessible to them. The differences in physical proximity between in-person and online had a pronounced outcome on social belonging. Physical proximity intensifies feelings of both belonging and exclusion, and forced distance can set students up for social depair. My findings may be of use to academic institutions interested in better cultivating belonging for their students.
Abstract Format
html
Disciplines
Educational Sociology | Inequality and Stratification
Keywords
education; belonging; social despair; academic belonging; STEM; geology; proximity
Language
English
Extent
61 pages
Rights Statement
Copyright is held by the author
Digital Origin
Born digital
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Recommended Citation
Hammersfeld, Ezra J., "Navigating the Terrain: Sense of Belonging in Geology Field Camps" (2025). Master's Theses. 362.
https://digscholarship.unco.edu/theses/362