Transitioning from Teaching to Mentoring: Supporting Students to Adopt Mentee Roles

Abstract

Mentoring is an essential aspect of scientific research training across multiple academic career levels. In student research training contexts, mentoring is intertwined with expectations of increased autonomy and development of research confidence and independence. An often assumed premise of student research mentoring is that students are cognizant of the expectations of mentee-mentor interactions in research and that they are prepared to step into their new mentee role. This assumption is problematic in undergraduate research training where students may conceptualize their interactions with faculty based on student-teacher interactions they have become familiar with in their coursework. There is also indication that the present lack of structured training elements to help students navigate changing roles may especially impact underrepresented minorities in STEM education. Our contributions include reporting on the design and lessons learned from implementing a Teaching-to-Mentoring Framework comprising six professional development strategies in the context of a cohort-based research experience program. The framework aims to support this transitioning into adopting a new role, making the distinction between mentee-mentor and student-teacher interactions transparent, and enabling students to make the most of their undergraduate research experiences.