ERIC Number: EJ1056303
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Apr
Pages: 37
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0002-8312
EISSN: N/A
Faculty Mentors', Graduate Students', and Performance-Based Assessments of Students' Research Skill Development
Feldon, David F.; Maher, Michelle A.; Hurst, Melissa; Timmerman, Briana
American Educational Research Journal, v52 n2 p334-370 Apr 2015
Faculty mentorship is thought to be a linchpin of graduate education in STEM disciplines. This mixed-method study investigates agreement between student mentees' and their faculty mentors' perceptions of the students' developing research knowledge and skills in STEM. We also compare both assessments against independent ratings of the students' written research proposals. In most cases, students and their mentors identified divergent strengths and weaknesses. However, when mentor-mentee pairs did identify the same characteristics, mentors and mentees disagreed about the mentee's abilities in 44% of cases in the Fall semester and 75% of cases in the Spring semester. When compared against performance-based assessments of mentees' work, neither faculty mentors' nor their mentees' perceptions aligned with rubric scores at rates greater than chance in most categories.
Descriptors: Graduate Students, Graduate Study, STEM Education, Mixed Methods Research, Mentors, Student Attitudes, Teacher Attitudes, Congruence (Psychology), Performance Based Assessment, Research Skills, Skill Development, Student Evaluation, Self Evaluation (Individuals), Teacher Student Relationship, Academic Ability, Ability Identification, Masters Programs, Doctoral Programs, Semi Structured Interviews, Predictor Variables, Scoring Rubrics
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: NSF-0723686,