Building independence

Below are some suggestions based on what has worked for others in the effort to encourage mentees to take ownership of their projects:

• Have a clear, open conversation (meaning two way, with both the mentor and mentee asking a lot of questions and both summarizing their understanding to the other) about why the project matters, both in the larger scientific field and in tangible, practical applications.

• Provide mentees with references from the realm of practical application for the research being done; this will help them see what information looks like and where to find it so that they can launch from those to do further literature search.

• Give them a project and have them design it.

• Be sure to provide design parameters and relevant restrictions for the project to ensure the effort is fruitful and appropriate for the resources available.

• Tell the mentee “you are responsible for this project”, but be available and always remain responsive to the mentee's questions and needs. This arrangement gives the mentee freedom to do their own thing.

• For work like synthesis and analysis, the mentee can begin with a procedural verification step:

  • Because the point of research is to do something new, it’s important to explain to the mentee the role of doing a verification step in beginning a research project, such as, "Reproducing a procedure from literature is not always straightforward. Let's see if we can get this to work."

  • Through this process, not only the literature can be verified, but the mentee's own lab technique, as well.

  • This helps build confidence, especially if the mentee’s success is affirmed.

  • And if the mentee does not succeed at first experience, the mentor can help them learn to think out loud by asking them their line of thinking. With that they can guide the mentee to better understanding, troubleshooting, and possibly correct answers.

  • This process can also boost the mentee’s confidence in asking questions by learning to trust their own perceptions of uncertainty and trust that those will be met with interest, listening, and supportive guidance.

• Be attentive to how a mentee learns and adapt to that.

  • Through the mentee’s initial problem solving efforts, you should try to be near by in order to determine how independent they are. If they need a lot of assistance, reserve time and attention accordingly.

  • Watch out for when a mentee appears to be lost, and check in with them. Feeling lost might discourage them.

  • Pay attention to whether they are comfortable or reluctant to ask questions, and provide encouragement and support as needed by showing openness, availability, and interest in questions.

• For novel design processes work side-by-side with the mentee, particularly in subject areas that are new to them. Eventually this can transition to increasing independence by the mentee as their confidence in their own understanding grows.

• Phased training can be a useful approach, meaning: Start off with 100% involvement in their experiments. The second time they are performing a task, try to be 75% involved, and then the third time go to 50 or 40%, etc. Always making sure the mentee knows that you, as their mentor, are available to help.

Below are some suggestions for how to make progress in taking ownership of a research project:

• Learn to think out loud. When we verbalize our plans and analysis, we can often discover shortcomings that might otherwise have gone unnoticed.

• Share your thought process with your mentor when planning experiments and analyzing data.

• Contribute ideas in project discussions with your mentor.

• Organize your work, including your lab notebook, visual representations of your data, and your plans for time management.

• Go over the products of your organizing with your mentor.

• Take initiative to do additional literature searching.