For this research project I will constantly be looking out for any resources centered around my topic: Robotics and Mentoring alike. (If you have one that is not listed, feel free to email me!) This means that this Reference Page will get longer as time goes on. The purpose for this page is to capture all the pre-existing knowledge on my topic and to give a better understanding of where there might be gaps that I can address in my own study later on. Click "Read More" to see what I've gathered and read so far.
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Srsly, AGAIN!? Another "mentor-built vs student-built" thread??? When will this be over?
Yes, yes, and I'm sorry :). But before you click away, allow me to explain -- While there might exist parallels to other CD discussions, I envision this project to offer new insights. This is an effort to take some of the frequently argued points to test, and come up with something that can be explained by quantifiable data. It's undeniable that discussions online are naturally centered around personal experiences, which is not always terrible, but can be pretty biased. This is not to say I'm exactly free of bias, but in the end I will be less likely to avoid the statistical results gathered from the mass. On the other hand, in the academic field, there does exist one or two case studies that try to correlate mentorship with student behavior (see Building Reference Page). While case-by-case observations and reasoning can go a long way, it's a small percentage of the bigger picture and often not enough to support/deny generalizing arguments (e.g. "students learn better on their own" or "higher mentor involvement opens up more opportunities for students" ). I fully understand that FRC is a mentor-based program, and that the competition wouldn't be what it is today if it weren't for all the mentors. However, I do believe there are different types of mentoring techniques -- some might be better than others, some might be more suitable for different students, some might be more applicable in certain situations. I hope this study will provide a reference for both existing and future mentors who would like a data-driven guide for choosing mentoring methods that primarily focuses on increasing students' growth, confidence, or interest in STEM. And yes, I do realize that I am only a high school student. That said, I'm not an expert in every aspect of the FIRST Robotics Competition. For this study to succeed, I not only need many teams to participate in the experiment, but also help from your expertise in deriving a good index for quantifying behaviors for the upcoming experiment. If you have done programming, game specific designs, drive coaching or team management; if you are a student, mentor, alumnus or researcher; if you know anyone who would be interested in this project; if you know anything that could be related to this study, please contact me. I would really really appreciate any help I can get ! |
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