Success
LSU HHMI Mentors participate
in a series of four courses designed to facilitate greater
undergraduate success in the STEM areas:
UC0050
Introduction to Mentoring, Education, and Research (2) F For
students in HHMI Professors Program or LA-STEM Research Scholars
Program only. Not for degree credit. Pass-no credit grading. Course
focuses on introducing students to college success tools, including
learning strategies, time management, and organization. Students will
be mentored as they are prepared to become effective mentors and
researchers.
This course is the
first in a series of four designed to increase STEM students' college
success and train them as mentors and researchers. The students will
obtain new learning strategies and put them to use in their other
courses. They will learn about their learning styles and how to adapt
to an instructor's teaching style. They will learn basic research
skills, like how to conduct a literature search and how to keep an
effective lab notebook. They will be mentored by upper-level students,
as well as viewing research presentations by students involved in
undergraduate research. The students' Success Journal Entries will
help them to adjust to college and to the resources and requirements
of the HHMI Professors Program and LA-STEM Research Scholars Program.
The Learning Strategies Project will help the students to utilize
their new learning strategies most effectively. The Mentoring Paper
that the students complete in this course will consist of their
research and reflections on mentoring from their current position as
mentees, which will help them to become effective mentors in the
following semesters.
UC0060 Pursuing
Mentoring, Education, and Research (2) S For students in HHMI
Professors Program or LA-STEM Research Scholars Program only. Not
for degree credit. Prereq: UC0050. Pass-no credit grading. Students
continue to implement the college success tools gained in UC0050 and
learn about research. During this course, the students begin a
service-learning project mentoring high school students and continue
to be mentored.
In this second course
in the series, students will continue to perfect their learning
strategies and develop new ones specific to their learning styles.
Using metacognitive strategies, they will assess and modify their
academic performance. The students will meet with high school mentees
several times during the semester, passing on the knowledge they have
gained about learning strategies and styles. They will continue to be
mentored by upper-level students and to view research presentations.
The students will continue to prepare for research, learning what to
expect in their first year of research and about research ethics. The
Success Journal Entries will help the students track their progress
from the time they entered the program. The Mentoring Plans, Mentoring
Journals, and Mentoring Paper will enable the students to learn about
themselves as mentors and to reflect on their mentoring experiences,
an essential part of successful service-learning. By completing the
Graduate School Portfolio, students will gain a basic knowledge of
graduate school application requirements, including the GRE, and will
investigate a few programs in their fields. They will also search for
and apply to summer research programs, giving them practice in the
application process, as well as the potential for improving their
graduate school candidacy through research experience.
UC0070 Success
in Mentoring, Education, and Research (2) F For students in
HHMI Professors Program or LA-STEM Research Scholars Program only. Not
for degree credit. Prereq: UC0060. Pass-no credit grading. Students
expand their mentoring projects, continuing to meet with high school
mentees and also engaging in peer mentoring.
For this course, the
focus is on mentoring and research. Students will continue their
meetings with the high school mentees and begin mentoring new
undergraduates in the program. This will be most students' first
semester conducting research, and the course will provide support for
any problems that they encounter, as well as reinforcing what students
have learned about research etiquette and ethics. Though learning
strategies will still be a topic, the course will focus on teaching
learning strategies and styles in a mentoring context. The Success
Journal Entries will help students remain focused on their own
progress as students during a semester where their roles as mentors
and researchers are emphasized. The Research Reports are necessary to
keep track of students' research projects and identify potential
problems early. If, for some reason, a student at this stage is not
involved with research, another related assignment will be
substituted. Students' Mentoring Reports will track the development of
mentoring relationships with high school mentees and other program
participants. The Mentoring Journals and Mentoring Paper completed in
this course should show the reflections of seasoned mentors.
UC0080
Advancing in Mentoring, Education, and Research (1) F, S For
students in HHMI Professors Program or LA-STEM Research Scholars
Program only. Not for degree credit. Prereq: UC0070. May be taken for
a max. of 3 sem. hrs. Pass-no credit grading. Advanced independent
mentoring, research presentation skills, and focused graduate school
preparation.
In the final course
in the series, students will take on leadership roles as mentors and
researchers. The students improve their presentation skills and share
their experiences with less advanced students through the Research
Presentations. The Research Reports will keep the programs updated on
students' research projects and help to identify potential problems
early. The Mentoring Journals and Mentoring Paper will continue to
develop the students' mentoring and reflective skills. For each
semester that the students complete these projects, they will focus on
a different aspect of mentoring. The Graduate School Portfolio will
aid students in exploring their options for graduate school;
increasing their qualifications through awards, scholarships, and
research projects; and presenting their unique experiences in
effective graduate school applications. For each semester that the
students complete this project, they will collect more information
about graduate school and will work on developing different parts of
their applications. In later semesters, part of the Graduate School
Portfolio project will be producing a research paper suitable for
publication in an undergraduate science journal. |