Science Project Mentor -
1. You will agree to help mentor no more than 5 projects.
2. Each week you should receive communication from the students,usually in the form of email. You would be asked to respond to each email within a reasonable amount of time.
3. Each email from the students should include updates, questions and thoughts on where they are in the progress of their project. Each email should be CC'd with the teacher in it (just one layer to help keep everyone safe).
4. Time commitment - I am thinking no more than 20 or 30 minutes a week. Could be more based on how involved you would want to get with the students. This could last anywhere from 9 to 18 weeks (once a week communication but of course could be more based on how involved you want to get).
5. Do not do the project for the students. If the students are being disrespectful or asking simple questions that can be Googled, let the teacher know.
For the Teacher -
Let me first describe what I did with my science fair projects and then talk about how you may be able to modify this to meet your needs.
In my class, we take part in a science fair project. The traditional way just was not exciting to me or my students. Very few really got into it and delivered what I would consider a realistic version of a science research project. I decided to reach out to some of my friends who are practicing scientists to see if they would be willing to help mentor some of my students through their project. What it has ended up entailing is a group of no more than 5 projects is assigned to a mentor. My students were required to send a weekly email to their mentor with updates, questions, thoughts, procedures or anything else they feel like sharing with their mentors. I made sure my students, at first knew how to address their mentor properly, addressed any issues brought up by the mentor or the students, and to not wait if their mentor had not gotten back to them (we talked about how their mentor has a full time job, maybe out of the country, doing research and has a life). Many of the students really got into the email conversations with their mentors, enjoying the back and forth. It was awesome to watch how many of the conversations took on a life of their own, connections being made between the students and mentors. The science fair project is a year long project that I have instituted to try and get the students to get a taste of a realistic research project.
How can you modify this? Well, it depends on how many students you are working with and what your timeline will be for the project. I would recommend using email as the communication system as it allows easy access, easy to track and easy to keep up with as a teacher. I would definitely recommend no more than 5 projects per mentor.
Advice for the mentors - If you want to know what this entails, I would be happy to put you in touch with some of the mentors that have worked with my students. They can give you a better idea of what it is like on their end. I would like to think this would take no more than 30 minutes a week through email, more if you wish.
1. You will agree to help mentor no more than 5 projects.
2. Each week you should receive communication from the students,usually in the form of email. You would be asked to respond to each email within a reasonable amount of time.
3. Each email from the students should include updates, questions and thoughts on where they are in the progress of their project. Each email should be CC'd with the teacher in it (just one layer to help keep everyone safe).
4. Time commitment - I am thinking no more than 20 or 30 minutes a week. Could be more based on how involved you would want to get with the students. This could last anywhere from 9 to 18 weeks (once a week communication but of course could be more based on how involved you want to get).
5. Do not do the project for the students. If the students are being disrespectful or asking simple questions that can be Googled, let the teacher know.
For the Teacher -
Let me first describe what I did with my science fair projects and then talk about how you may be able to modify this to meet your needs.
In my class, we take part in a science fair project. The traditional way just was not exciting to me or my students. Very few really got into it and delivered what I would consider a realistic version of a science research project. I decided to reach out to some of my friends who are practicing scientists to see if they would be willing to help mentor some of my students through their project. What it has ended up entailing is a group of no more than 5 projects is assigned to a mentor. My students were required to send a weekly email to their mentor with updates, questions, thoughts, procedures or anything else they feel like sharing with their mentors. I made sure my students, at first knew how to address their mentor properly, addressed any issues brought up by the mentor or the students, and to not wait if their mentor had not gotten back to them (we talked about how their mentor has a full time job, maybe out of the country, doing research and has a life). Many of the students really got into the email conversations with their mentors, enjoying the back and forth. It was awesome to watch how many of the conversations took on a life of their own, connections being made between the students and mentors. The science fair project is a year long project that I have instituted to try and get the students to get a taste of a realistic research project.
How can you modify this? Well, it depends on how many students you are working with and what your timeline will be for the project. I would recommend using email as the communication system as it allows easy access, easy to track and easy to keep up with as a teacher. I would definitely recommend no more than 5 projects per mentor.
Advice for the mentors - If you want to know what this entails, I would be happy to put you in touch with some of the mentors that have worked with my students. They can give you a better idea of what it is like on their end. I would like to think this would take no more than 30 minutes a week through email, more if you wish.