It's small but obvious.
This project used to be solely focused on mentors' affect on Robotics programs. This has since changed. After laying out some different options, it's clear to me that many other factors completely independent on adult mentoring can play large roles in the participant's learning experience. I've decided to broaden up the topic so it covers more factors of learning. These factors will be analyzed along side with mentors' effects. It's important to note that the original plan for mentor vs robotics analysis would not be narrowed because of this change. This will only be a more inclusive research as important factors (other than mentors) of this program are not ignored. This will also not be a huge change on methodology. The main Stage 2 & 3 will not be changed at all, just a few added questions to Stage 1's survey.
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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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