Determining if someone understands the content and process of their discipline is not easy, yet critical in a productive mentoring relationship. Developing strategies to assess understanding, especially of core research concepts, is an important part of becoming an effective mentor. Moreover, it is important for mentors to be able to identify the causes for a lack of understanding and strategies to address such misunderstandings.

Learning Objectives for Assessing Understanding

  1. Assess their mentees’ understanding of core concepts and processes
  2. Identify various reasons for a lack of understanding, including expert-novice differences
  3. Use multiple strategies to enhance mentee understanding across diverse disciplinary perspectives

Readings/Activities to complete before the Session
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  1. How People Learn
  2. Mentor Support of Learning and Assessing Understanding
  3. Case Studies 1-3