In2Science Mentoring

Building student aspirations in Melbourne’s western suburbs

Two teenage students, a boy and a girl, studying together in what appears to be a school science laboratory.

This project will build upon In2science’s proven and successful peer-mentoring program, which sees mentors work with secondary school science or maths students for a 10-week period.

University student recruits from our partner universities will undergo extensive training before placement in a year 7-10 science or maths class, at one of six partner schools in the western suburbs.

Working with the classroom teacher, mentors help students, share their own experience and motivations for studying at university and relate school work to real-world examples.

In2science will also develop additional training materials for mentors that will see them engage in more meaningful conversations about career-planning in STEM fields.

Impact

  • 6 secondary schools

  • 30 mentors

  • 300 year 7-10 students
The In2Science logo. ‘In2Science’ in yellow, burgundy, and purple with ‘STEM peer mentoring in schools’ beneath. To the left, a symbol featuring burgundy dots linked by white lines on an orange background, possibly representing neural pathways.

About In2science

In2science is an innovative, award-winning program, which increases student engagement in maths and science by placing volunteer university students as peer mentors in secondary school classes. In2science was established in 2004 and is a La Trobe University-led collaboration with The University of Melbourne, RMIT University, Swinburne University of Technology and Monash University.