A Scoping Review on Non-Majority Students’ Sense of Belonging in Engineering and Computing Education: Uncovering the Barriers, Supports, and Contexts

This work-in-progress theory paper discusses the preliminary findings of a scoping literature review on non-majority students’ sense of belonging in engineering and computing education, focused on barriers, supports, and contexts. A substantial body of research underscores the significant impact of sense of belonging on students’ educational, social, and psychological outcomes, particularly for non-majority students in engineering and computing education who often experience isolation, which in turn impacts their decisions to leave their fields of study. Consequently, sense of belonging research has become more prevalent in engineering and computing education to challenge racial and socioeconomic disparities, leading to a recent surge of interest and publications in the field. This work is part of a larger literature review project on a sense of belonging in engineering and computing education, focusing on the barriers, needs, and infrastructure that help non-majority students develop a sense of belonging. While this review is ongoing, we present some preliminary findings to share with the research community and solicit feedback as we continue our study.