Learning Outside the Classroom: the Peer-Mentoring Model in the Experience of Research Exercises

The aim of this paper is to focus on a teaching-learning experience: the peer mentoring in the context of collaborative research groups. First-year students of the Pedagogy degree courses at Sapienza, University of Rome, have to attend a research lab under the supervision and mediation of a professor and a mentor (an advanced student) who offer guidance and support to the first-year students (Szpunar & Sposetti, 2018; Corda Costa & Visalberghi, 1975). The purpose is twofold, on the one hand there is the acquisition of organizational and design skills, self-awareness and personal growth, which contributes to an active involvement and pedagogical engagement; on the other hand, there is the possibility to link theory to practice since the experience includes research field (Colvin, 2010; Glaser et ali, 2006). To analyse the peer-mentoring model in academic context like research exercises the authors choose to give voice to the mentors through focus groups and to the students through a standardized questionnaire in order to highlight strengths and criticalities. The findings suggest there are key factors like orientation and empowerment that stress the educational value of the experience, both for students’ pathways and for the development of transversal skills (Bonin, 2013; Beltman & Schaeben, 2012). All the participants point the relevance of teaching-learning experience in a peer mentoring setting as an enrichment (Sposetti & Szpunar, 2019; Lucisano et ali, 2011).