STEM Mentoring for Youth with Disabilities: Research, Practice, and Resources Collaboration of Education Northwest/National Mentoring Center, Friends for Youth, Indiana Mentoring Partnership, Mentor Michigan, Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota, and Oregon Mentors May 2012 2012 Collaborative Mentoring Webinar Series
Presented May 17, 2012 - Part of 2012 Collaborative Mentoring Webinar Series
Education Northwest/National Mentoring Center, Friends For Youth, Indiana Mentoring Partnership, Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota, Mentor Michigan, Mobius Mentors, Oregon Mentors and other partners are working together in 2012 to deliver this free monthly webinar series for mentoring professionals.
For updates about upcoming webinars, join and follow the Collaborative Mentoring Series discussion area on the Mentoring Forums at http://mentoringforums.educationnorthwest.org/forum/26.
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Transcript
STEM Mentoring for Youth with Disabilities: Research,
Practice, and Resources
Collaboration of Education Northwest/National Mentoring Center, Friends
for Youth, Indiana Mentoring Partnership, Mentor Michigan, Mentoring
Partnership of Minnesota, and Oregon Mentors
May 2012
2012 Collaborative Mentoring Webinar Series
Good to Know…
1
All attendees will receive an email after the webinar
of Washington – Mentoring activities and resources
3. Recommendations
4. Q & A
4
Regional Research Institute for
Human Services Laurie Powers has been a Director or Co-
director of 47 research, demonstration, and
training projects funded by federal and
state agencies and national foundations,
and including the STEM Mentor Project
and several other studies of successful
mentoring approaches. Laurie's
work focuses on identifying and putting into
practice strategies to enable young people
with disabilities to express self-
determination and reach their education,
employment, and other goals for adult life.
5
LAURIE POWERS
ASSOCIATE DEAN
Regional Research Institute for
Human Services
Jo-Ann Sowers’ research and practice is
focused in the area of transition to quality
employment and life outcomes for youth
and young adults with disabilities. A
number of her programs and research
studies have included mentoring
components. Currently, she is the Principal
Investigator of a study to determine the
impact of STEM mentors on youth with
disabilities.
6
JO-ANN SOWERS
RESEARCH PROFESSOR
Disabilities, Opportunities,
Internetworking, & Technology Center
Scott Bellman has worked for over ten
years at the University of Washington’s
DO-IT Center. DO-IT promotes
postsecondary education and challenging
careers such as science, technology,
engineering, and math (STEM) for people
with disabilities. Scott manages grant
activities that seek to remove barriers in
educational settings, prepare participants
for careers, and develop resources for a
wide variety of stakeholders. He received a
Masters Degree in Rehabilitation
Counseling and is a Licensed Mental
Health Counselor in Washington State.
7
SCOTT BELLMAN
PROGRAM MANAGER
STEM Mentoring for Youth
with Disabilities: Research,
Practice, and Resources
Supported in part by Grant # HRD 0834195 from the
RDE Program of the National Science Foundation.
Background
• Individuals with disabilities are
underrepresented in STEM
• Leadership of NSF STEM Research in
Disabilities Education (RDE) Program
• Growing body of knowledge about effective
mentoring
• Our interest and research and practice
experience related to mentoring as a whole
and, in particular, for young people with
disabilities
What Matters
Research Review
• Methods – Searched for published research articles on mentoring of
young people ages 14-30 (with a few exceptions)
– Articles focusing on STEM mentoring youth with
disabilities, non-STEM mentoring youth with disabilities,
STEM mentoring females, racial and ethnic minority youth,
major studies of mentoring with at-risk youth
• RDE Alliances have contributed extensive knowledge on
STEM mentoring for youth with disabilities
– Examined study methods, outcomes, mentoring program
and intervention processes, mentor and mentee
characteristics, and mentor-mentee matching
Key Findings • Important findings have emerged, however
definitive evidence that mentoring causes certain outcomes requires more research using rigorous methods. – Experimental, quasi-experimental, mixed
methods, longitudinal research
– Compare aspects of mentoring that are thought to improve outcomes (e.g., matching) and study longer term outcomes (increased postsecondary and career success)
Key Findings
• STEM and other mentoring has positive benefits for young people with disabilities.
• Mentoring is associated with increased confidence, knowledge, and engagement in STEM and other areas.
• Young people with disabilities benefit from STEM mentoring provided by mentors without and with disabilities.
• Strengths-oriented mentors who foster positive relationships with mentees are most effective.
• Experiential activities and information sharing in areas valued by the youth appear to be important for effective mentoring.
Key Findings
• Short-term, focused, and consistent STEM and other mentoring (less than 1 year) can be effective.
• Successful matching of STEM and other mentors and mentees appears most related to mentors and mentees having compatible personalities, and shared experiences and interests (not necessarily in same STEM area). – More research is needed to sort out when other
factors make a difference; for example, when similar race, gender, or functional challenges are important and which factors are likely to trump others in matching mentors and young people.
Key Findings • Developmental timing matters. For example, STEM
mentoring for 14 year olds is different than STEM mentoring for 17 year olds.
• Support for mentors and mentees interacting in groups as well as individually, and for e-mentoring. Need to learn more about the conditions under which each type of mentoring, and mentoring combinations, are most effective.
• Program fidelity is very important (having clear goals, designing and offering mentoring experiences directly tied to those goals, orientation for mentor and mentee, mentor training and ongoing support, program evaluation that feeds into program improvement).
Mentoring Activities of
the DO-IT Center
Electronic Mentoring
DO-IT Programs have opted for email
discussion lists over chat rooms, web-
based discussion threads, and Internet
chat rooms.
Social networking activities are student-driven.
Electronic Mentoring
Discussion list with all mentors and mentees
Closed discussion lists
Supports mentor and peer support
Special-topic subgroups
Supported with in-person events and activities
Electronic Mentoring
Ability to communicate over great distances quickly, and inexpensively
Elimination of schedule constraints
Communication with more than one person at a time
Reduces initial impact of disability
Technology can reduce impact of communication disabilities (speech, writing, reading)
Allows dual role of mentor and mentee
Provides mode of sharing resources and announcements
Mentoring Resources
Online Knowledge Base:
www.uw.edu/doit/Stem/kb.html
Knowledge Base Sample Questions:
What is the role of a mentor?
What are tips for making online mentoring successful?
What benefits do mentors get from a mentoring relationship?
What is the benefit of e-mentoring to students with disabilities?
Video “Opening Doors: Mentoring over the Internet”
www.uw.edu/doit/Video/index.php?vid=21
Guidelines for Mentors
www.uw.edu/doit/Brochures/Programs/mentoring.html
Book “Creating an E-Mentoring Community: How DO-IT does it, and how you can do it, too”
www.uw.edu/doit/Mentor/
Recommendations • Emphasize strengths-based mentoring and concrete
information sharing and experiential activities based on the goals for mentoring and young people’s interests and developmental needs.
• Include young people and mentors with disabilities in all mentoring programs, as well as networking among mentoring programs focusing on mentees with disabilities and other programs. – Focus on disability as an element of diversity just like
race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, first generation, etc. Strive to support culturally congruent mentoring experiences and creative accommodations for youth who have diverse characteristics and experiences.
Recommendations
• Provide young people with a diversity of mentoring and other experiences that respond to their unique interests and needs – mix and match type of mentoring offered and matching factors based on program goals and what seems most important to youth.
• Establish specific and measurable mentoring outcome goals, and design, communicate, and support mentoring experiences that support those goals.