The (virtual) mentoring experience: undergraduate students support of K-12 students’ inquiry practices

Abstract

This mixed methods research study investigates the experience of undergraduate students and K-12 students while participating in a semester-long virtual mentoring experience of a scientific research project to support the development of successful scientific inquiry skills. Undergraduate mentors partook in a mentoring workshop and joined a community of practice to reflect and develop their mentoring competencies and skillsets continuously. I administered the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument Form B (Enochs & Riggs, 1990), Views of Nature of Science – Form C (Lederman et al., 2022), and Views About Scientific Inquiry (Lederman et al., 2014) to first identify and then subsequently measure changes in their views of science teaching efficacy, views of nature of science, and views about scientific inquiry after being a mentor. The data showed changes in undergraduate students' views of science teaching efficacy, the nature of science, and about scientific inquiry. To further investigate the quantitative results, I observed the undergraduate mentors' mentoring sessions, analyzed weekly reflections, and led interviews to understand the mentoring experience further. This data indicated a fruitful and rich experience filled with affordances (i.e., development of 21st century skills, mentoring strategies, and definition of science/a scientists) and challenges (i.e., relating to K-12 students and group work/collaboration). This study shows that virtual mentorship of scientific research positively influenced the entirety of K-16 students through the development of mentorship, teaching, research, and inquiry skills.