Building a STEM peer mentor program with students as partners

Abstract

We analyze a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) peer mentor program using the students-as-partners (SaP) propositions proposed by Matthews (2017). The data consists of student worker testimonials and documented experiences, staff experiences with the program, and surveys. While the partnership with student workers in the program aligns with most of the five tenets, “uncertain outcomes” and “partnership for transformation” are only partially implemented as defined by Matthews. The program successfully meets its stated outcome, and the partnership with student workers is instrumental in achieving it. Additionally, the student workers benefit from working in a less hierarchical relationship. We propose that SaP is a helpful approach to analyze the role of student workers as it allows for understanding how students may develop in said less hierarchical working relationship and for evaluating the strengths and shortcomings of specific implementations. Future studies applying a similar approach could move the field towards a more unified theoretical framework. It will be important to establish which tenets are central, what benefits students receive under which conditions, and how to apply the approach in different contexts.