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Mentors are the bridge between
students and their success.
The NVSF eMentoring connects middle school science
students with telementors who are experts in various
science disciplines in order to develop a collaborative,
interactive online community. The daily face-to-face
interactions between science teachers and students
in the classroom are supplemented and enhanced by online
mentoring (in English) via “threaded discussions” using
the e-learning tool, BlackBoard™.
What are the objectives of the NVSF-Mentoring Program?
The eMentor’s role in experiential learning
is like that of parent birds guiding their young to
leave the nest; they support without rescuing, provide
scaffolding (e.g., in a problem situation, asking "What
do think you should do next?"), and have confidence
that students can learn from failure. This is a potentially
powerful strategy for helping middle school students
develop scientific habits of mind.
The primary goal of the NVSF-Mentoring
Program is to expand the students' knowledge
of science and transform their science habits
of mind, i.e., learning how to think like
a scientist.
A second goal is to provide a motivation
for the students to commit themselves to their
research project through interaction with mentors
who are knowledgeable in the field of science
and demonstrate successful teaching skills.
The third goal is
to provide students with the opportunity to
communicate with mentors from diverse fields
and expand their options for potential career
paths in science.
Why mentoring through BlackBoard?
Student science fair teams s will maintain a research
diary bi-weekly
at their Blackboard space. This research ediary is
an integral part of the science class and can
be accessed through BlackBoard. eMentors
will receive unique access codes to review their team's
research diary and determine the status of the research
project and provide guidance, encouragement, as well
as technical assistance and resources.
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