The number of mentor placements in 2016 by region.
Welcome to the final post for 2016. The In2science Awards night was a fantastic way to celebrate the end of what has been a very busy, productive and successful year.
- Specalised mentor training and support: the team has focused on specific mentor training based around growth mindset, mentoring, and enhancing science communication skills.
- Staff professional development: the In2science team has attended numerous workshops and presented at conferences, all focused around increasing students’ engagement and aspirations in STEM.
- Mentor manager and placement application: In 2017, coordinators will be able to visually see a mentor’s location in relation to a school and match mentors availability with teachers requests based on times and common interests.
- Additional funding to launch and accelerate online mentoring for regional schools: Feedback from the 2016 pilot has been overwhelmingly positive. We look forward to expanding this in 2017.
Feedback and support about the In2science program has been extremely positive. Preliminary analysis of survey results reveal that, after having an In2science mentor, students:
- are more confident in science and maths
- are more likely to know how to find information to help them solve a science problem
- enjoy finding out answers to science questions
- identify that the problem solving skills they use in science can be helpful in everyday life; and
- recognise that studying VCE science/maths subjects at year 12 will give them lots of options
What the students say
“The mentor didn’t give me the answers but helped me work through all the problems”
– Year 8 maths student
“I have learnt a lot from my mentor. Insights of uni life and her future career have been great to think about for my future”
– Year 8 science student
What the teachers say
“The mentor must have instilled something in the students that is very rare and hard to achieve in a secondary college – Intrinsic motivation”
– Kylie Lambert, Maffra Secondary College
What the mentors say
“Students became more engaged with the work when we worked together”
– Selda Ekri, In2science mentor
We would like to thank the Chair, The Honourable Professor John Brumby, for his support and leadership and all Advisory Board members for their ongoing commitment to ensuring the program is well governed.
In2science is fortunate to have a team of highly motivated and dedicated staff. The team is looking forward to working with current and new partner schools and further expanding the program to support digital learning and girls in STEM in 2017.
