What Does Online Mentorship of Secondary Science Students Look Like?

Abstract

Mentorship by scientists can enrich learning opportunities for secondary science students, but how scientists perform these roles is poorly documented. We examine a partnership in which plant scientists served as online mentors to teams conducting plant investigations. In our content analysis of 170 conversations, the mentors employed an array of scaffolding techniques (encouraging; helping clarify goals, ideas, and procedures; and supporting reflection), with social discourse centrally embedded and fundamental to the mentoring relationship. The interplay of techniques illustrates that scientist mentors harmonize multiple dimensions of learning and model the integration of science content and practice. The mentors fulfilled self-identified motivation to promote their students’ interest and to enculturate students to the science community through online discourse. The patterns of this discourse varied with the mentors’ gender, career stage, and team–mentor engagement. These findings address research gaps about the roles, functions, and conceptions of scientists as online mentors; they can be used to guide program facilitation and new research directions.