Blended Learning Training for Mentors of STEM Team Competitions

This paper describes the findings of a research study of a blended-learning approach to train mentors of teams in the Botball® Educational Robotics Program. Botball is an international team-based robotics competition for secondary students designed to build skills in computer programming, robotics, teamwork, and problem solving. For this study, we recruited new teams comprising 8-10 middle school students per team and a mentor. Teams were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups or a control group. Mentors of teams in the experimental groups received training in one of three types of mentor practices: best practices, mentoring for self-efficacy, or a combination of best practices and self-efficacy. The training format consisted of web-based self-paced tutorials, a face-to-face workshop, and webinars. Dependent variables were student post-test scores on three assessments: Efficacy for Science-Related Jobs, STEM Achievement-Related Choices, and STEM Self-Efficacy. A priori statistical analyses showed no difference between the groups; however, post hoc analyses showed that the use of self-efficacy techniques was positively related to the three dependent measures. Post-competition surveys of mentor practices indicated that students in the treatment groups did not appear to receive distinctly different treatments, revealing some of the potential challenges of the blended learning approach for professional development of teachermentors.