The Wiley International Handbook of Mentoring

15Practices of Cognitive Apprenticeship and Peer Mentorship in a Cross‐Global STEM Lab

Carol A. Mullen

Virginia Tech, USA

Professionals, worldwide, are contributing in entirely new ways to their disciplines. We have the means, through the Internet and such handbooks as the present one, to more inclusively and broadly represent mentoring practices. Possibilities for educating a global citizenry through the rising popularity of ground‐breaking groups and networks seem limitless. One such post‐secondary team—a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) research apprenticeship—is unusual, for it exists in China and the United States. A transglobal arrangement, this initiative has been in operation for two decades, but only its scientific products are known. In this mentoring practice account, I take my readers into a mysterious learning environment and reveal some of its intriguing mentoring, cultural, and creative dynamics. A new model—mentoring‐based cognitive apprenticeship—is introduced and demonstrated through the STEM case.

Background

While international mentoring practices are being documented more regularly (e.g., Clutterbuck, Kochan, Lunsford, Dominguez, & Haddock‐Millar, 2017; Fletcher & Mullen, 2012), much remains to be studied. Responding to this broad academic problem, I narrate empirical results in this international case study.

This STEM team, consisting of Chinese and American science students (henceforth, apprentices), sparked my curiosity about its sociocultural ...