A breakthrough that has occurred in recent years is the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has affected various sectors of society, including the educational sector. It has prevented students from performing group-oriented hands-on activities and has eventually transformed their active learning environment in schools into virtual passive lectures at home. Therefore, to solve this impedance, we exercised several online STEM programs (five online STEM programs with repetitive cycles) for school students, including 140 students (middle and high school), 16 undergraduate (UG) secondary mentors, and 8 primary STEM professionals. Thus, the study revealed the results of a distinctive interactive online STEM teaching model that has been designed to overcome the virtual classroom’s impediments. The employed teaching model demonstrates an interactive learning environment that ensures students’ engagement, retention, and participation, driving them to STEM innovations. Various digital tools, including PowerPoint presentations, videos, online simulations, interactive quizzes, and innovative games were used as teaching aids. Both the synchronous and asynchronous means in a student-centered approach, along with the feedback mechanism, were implemented. Finally, the employed method’s effectiveness was revealed by the maximum student retention and STEM innovation rates, along with the model’s potentiality towards its replicability and sustainability. Thus, the outlook of such initiatives could further be broadened by its sustainability and replicability aspect towards vulnerable student communities such as academically introverted and specially challenged students.

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This study exemplifies a STEM-based online near-peer mentoring approach, incorporating 56 students (high and middle school mentees) and 16 secondary undergraduates (UG) mentors. The various constructive roles of UG mentors in motivating student mentees have been investigated by examining the mentoring relationship shared among them. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of the student’s daily feedback, mentors’ feedback, and UG mentors-mentees transcripts has illustrated that consistent asynchronous appreciation, encouragement, and support (academic technical) was responsible for the success of the model. The finding also demonstrated a decline in the amount of motivation requirement of the mentees in the successive weeks of the courses, indicating the attainment of self-sufficiency. Furthermore, comparative analysis revealed a greater amount of motivation requirement and enhanced bonding between the middle school mentees and UG mentors, compared with high school mentees and UG mentors. Therefore, unlike many studies depicting the model’s success, our article is an aid in understanding the underlying process, contributing to the success. Thus, this educational approach is an aid in motivating and augmenting students’ engagement during online STEM education, which is crucial for cultivating and retaining STEM interests among the young generation of the nation.

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The importance of online education and online learning has gained colossal importance during the present era. Despite online education being the savior during the current pandemic, its implementation was/has been quite puzzling. This article describes a novel approach to the execution of an E-STEM (online- Science, technology, engineering, mathematics) course for school students by integrating the near-peer mentoring approach. Wherein, the undergraduate (UG) students were the near-peer mentors, who had mentored/guided the school students (middle school & high school). Even though the E-STEM course was developed & presented by the STEM professionals, it was the near peer-mentors who were responsible for the constant motivation & assessment of the school students. The paper displays several roles of the UG mentors, predominantly aiding the students’ motivation and also their assessment via a triangulation assessment approach: with the UG mentors being responsible for the indirect and embedded assessment of the students. The STEM course was efficaciously conducted for 56 students of high school and middle school students, involving 16 undergraduate near-peer mentors. Various E-tools and student-feedback mechanisms were used to implement the E-STEM course in a student-centered manner. Thereby, to reveal the success of the model, the student’s feedback, pre-post questionnaires, and text message transcripts were investigated. The constructive roles of undergraduate mentors, in aiding the school students towards their active engagement, and STEM innovations, during E-learning, have been validated. A clear comparison had been made between the behavioral aspect of the high school students and middle school students with the UG mentor. Therefore, unlike many studies that had shown the success of the near-peer mentoring model, our article addresses the underlying process, that contributes to the success with a distinct comparison between the two (prior mentioned aspect).