Investigating the Impact of Classroom Structure, Sociality, and Inclusivity on Student Perceptions of Mastery

This study focuses on what classroom factors contribute to a positive educational experience and sense of material mastery for computing students. The CALI inventory, a tool to measure dimensions of Sociality, Structure, and Inclusivity features within computing courses, was combined with other metrics to evaluate how these environmental factors relate to students' learning mindsets and perceived subject mastery. Data was collected from 381 computer science students about 580 course experiences at two universities in different regions of the country to address the following research questions: How do dimensions of course Sociality, Structure, and Inclusivity impact student perceived subject mastery? How do classroom dimensions and mastery relate to student learning mindsets? Our results indicate that sociality, structure and inclusivity are all positively and significantly associated with students' perceived mastery. Students' sense of belonging was also found to positively correlate with perceived mastery, though there were no significant associations between perceived mastery and other student mindset constructs of growth mindset, self-efficacy, grit and professional identity. Our approach contributes to computer science education research methodology and to a better understanding of pedagogical practices that can create more supportive and equitable education environments.