Mentoring Structures and the Types of Support Provided to Early-Year Undergraduate Researchers

Abstract

This study investigated undergraduate researchers’ perspectives on mentoring structures and the support provided to them in their first and sophomore years. Participants reported receiving different types of support from faculty and postgraduates depending on their mentoring structures and the amount of research experience they gained.

Examining the Variations in Undergraduate Students’ Conceptions of Successful Researchers: A Phenomenographic Study

“…A mentored research experience is a common mechanism of enculturation into the research community of practice at the university level, as mentors are more established members who have more experience with the processes and social norms of the community ( Thiry and Laursen, 2011 ; Linn et al. , 2015 ; Ceyhan and Tillotson, 2020 ). Our results indicated variations in the extent to which students recognized failure and iteration as central to the research process, so students may experience shock and instability if their expectations are incompatible with this authentic nature of the process.…”

Early year undergraduate researchers’ reflections on the values and perceived costs of their research experience

“…Participants had different amounts of research experience because some of them did not continue at the end of the first or second semester of their UR experience or some of them preferred to stay on campus during summer to continue their research (Ceyhan & Tillotson, 2020). In total, eight participants had three semesters and one summer, ten participants had three semesters, four participants had two semesters, and two participants had one-semester research experience.…”

A case study of a novel summer bridge program to prepare transfer students for research in biological sciences

“…The summer bridge program aimed to legitimize students' participation in the research community by providing participants with resources and experiences that would enhance their professional research skills and enculturate them into the community. This participation was facilitated by faculty mentors, experts within the research community of practice that help increase the authenticity of the learning and guide newcomers' movement from the periphery to a more central role in the community (Ceyhan & Tillotson, 2020). Research Figure 1 The scientific research community is a community of practice with unique cultural norms and values.…”

“…A missing piece in our case study was a direct triangulation of the mentorship relationship between students and the teaching assistant or faculty mentors in the program, as well as the new mentorship relationships that students built in their new laboratories after the program. Mentorship has been shown to influence student identities in science (Carlone & Johnson, 2007;Chemers et al, 2011), and the types of support that undergraduate trainees receive from faculty and postgraduates have depended on different mentoring structures (Ceyhan & Tillotson, 2020). A longitudinal investigation of the different mentorship structures that participants experience during and after their summer research experience can be informative for understanding how different stakeholders beyond the program can affect student trajectories toward professional pathways in science.…”

“…It takes time to learn about available research opportunities, interact with and build relationships with Zuckerman et al Discip Interdscip Sci Educ Res (2022) 4:27 faculty, find mentors, and learn what steps are necessary for a successful application to graduate school. First-year admits can start working in research labs as they finish their introductory course work, during which they have time to become proficient in research skills and techniques, network into new research and professional opportunities, obtain strong letters of recommendation for graduate and professional programs, and in some cases, contribute to a co-authored publication (Ceyhan & Tillotson, 2020;Linn et al, 2015;Thiry et al, 2012).…”