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It argues that mentors need more than job talk or activity facilitation; they require support to become effective role models and facilitators. Drawing on a research-practice partnership focused on a high-school girls’ Making program, it outlines why Making strengthens STEM pathways and how mentor support can improve student outcomes and engagement.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/making-and-mentors-what-it-takes-to-make-them-better-together/590590/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/making-and-mentors-what-it-takes-to-make-them-better-together/590590.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Stanley","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-27","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":24},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Why can afterschool STEM programs use local mentors to create equitable learning opportunities?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Local mentors help build bridges between program participants and STEM role models. Meaningful connections require mentors to do more than simply describe their jobs or lead an activity.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What kinds of support do mentors need to be effective in STEM-oriented Making programs?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Mentors need support to learn to be effective role models and facilitators. That support helps participants form genuine connections and stay engaged.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How does Making education benefit students and mentor involvement?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Making’s collaborative, cross-disciplinary culture supports engagement and can open pathways into STEM. For students, mentoring can reduce stereotypes and provide social, emotional, behavioral, and academic or career guidance, improving progression in STEM.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},590590,1792166013,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":24,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":52,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},2336477405376,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_29158cc5080c5b710cf443261637dec0","Making and Mentors  \nWhat It Takes to Make Them Better Together  \nLinda Kekelis, Jean J. Ryoo, and Emily McLeod  \nOne way afterschool programs can create equitable learning opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is to build bridges between program participants and mentors from their local communities. To build meaningful connections that inspire and engage youth, mentors need todo more than simply come and talk about their job or lead an activity.  \nThey need support to learn to be effective role models and facilitators with whom participants can find genuine connections. Our research-practice partnership, focused on an afterschool Making program for high school girls, reveals promising practices for supporting mentors in STEM-oriented making programs.  \nWhy Making?  \nMaking as an educational approach holds promise both for introducing mentors into STEM programming and for showing girls new pathways into STEM (Wittemyer & Gill, 2014) . With its merger of cutting-edge technol-  \nLINDA KEKELIS, PhD, is principal of Linda Kekelis Consulting. Dr. Kekelis has a longstanding passion for ensuring that all youth, particularly girls and underrepresented youth, have access to STEM opportunities. She collaborates with girl-serving organizations, participateson advisory boards, and works with partners to bridge research and practice to promote STEM for all youth.  \nJEAN J. RYOO, PhD, is senior researcher working with the Tinkering Studio at the Exploratorium. She directed the California Tinkering Afterschool Network project. She currently collaborates with Lighthouse Community Charter School in Oakland and with Exploring Computer Science, a K–12-university partnership, to improve STEM and computer science education for all.  \nEMILY MCLEOD is director of innovation, research, and curriculum at Techbridge Girls. She works to develop out-of-school time programming that empowers low-income and underserved girls through STEM exploration and achievement. She also supports professional development for informal STEM educators.  \nogy and traditional arts and crafts, Making can help girls learn about electronics, robotics, metalwork, woodwork, sewing, and many other fabrication techniques. It can also attract mentors who have both technical expertise and personal interest in the creative aspects of Making.  \nMaking’s collaborative culture and cross-disciplinary approach draw girls in and sustain their engagement (Girl Scouts Research Institute, 2016) . Making also enables adults to support youth in creating projects that both are personally relevant and can have a positive impact on their local communities (Liston, Peterson, & Ragan, 2008; Mosatche, Matloff-Nieves, Kekelis, & Lawner, 2013) . The chance to design a low-cost wheelchair from bicycle parts or build a newborn resuscitator from a household aquarium pump can motivate girls who might not otherwise have participated in STEM programs. At its best, Making moves beyond step-by-step projects to give young people autonomy in designing projects that are driven by their interests and that include aesthetic and playful qualities (Blikstein, 2013; Martin, 2015; Petrich, Wilkinson, & Bevan, 2013) .  \nguez, 2014; McDaniel, Yarbrough, & Besnoy, 2015) . For educators, working alongside mentors can increase their confidence in teaching STEM and using inquiry practices, increase access to ideas about innovations, and reveal the wide range of STEM career opportunities (Dolan, 2008) . Mentors derive benefits that include increased confidence in their teaching skills, stronger communication skills, and opportunities to network with other scientists (Groome & Rodriguez, 2014; Science and Health Education Partnership, 2016) .  \nBut the benefits of STEM mentoring that matter most are the benefits for students. Mentors can help dispel young people’s stereotypes about who can do STEM and what can result from STEM studies and careers (Dasgupta & Stout, 2014) . They can support im","cbCaicUkj5L4MHus","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaicUkj5L4MHus","pdf",2176262,"English","# Making and Mentors\n## Why Making?\n## Support for Mentors and Students","[{\"question\":\"Why can afterschool STEM programs use local mentors to create equitable learning opportunities?\",\"answer\":\"Local mentors help build bridges between program participants and STEM role models. Meaningful connections require mentors to do more than simply describe their jobs or lead an activity.\"},{\"question\":\"What kinds of support do mentors need to be effective in STEM-oriented Making programs?\",\"answer\":\"Mentors need support to learn to be effective role models and facilitators. That support helps participants form genuine connections and stay engaged.\"},{\"question\":\"How does Making education benefit students and mentor involvement?\",\"answer\":\"Making’s collaborative, cross-disciplinary culture supports engagement and can open pathways into STEM. For students, mentoring can reduce stereotypes and provide social, emotional, behavioral, and academic or career guidance, improving progression in STEM.\"}]","Making and Mentors - What It Takes to Make Them Better Together | PDF",1792069976,25]