The developmental potential of peer mentoring of master-degree students and the protege effect in supporting the project activity of bachelors

• Maya V. Bernavskaya

  Maya V. Bernavskaya Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. St. Petersburg. Russia

The relevance of the research is determined by the wide involvement of master-degree students in supporting the project activity of bachelors while the developmental effect of this role for the master-degree student remains theoretically underexplored. The subject is the de-
velopmental potential of peer mentoring provided by master-degree students as the teaching side of a reciprocal interaction in facilitated project-based learning. The aim is a theoretical ubstantiation of the protege effect and of peer mentoring as a mechanism of the professional
and pedagogical development of a master-degree student. The methodology is theoretical and relies on a conceptual synthesis of peer learning, social learning, cultural-historical psychology and self-determination theory. The results show that peer mentoring has a bidirectional effect in
which a master-degree student, supporting bachelors, deepens their own subject and methodological understanding, masters pedagogical competence, forms the professional identity of a researcher and strengthens autonomous motivation. The leading mechanism is the protege effect, complemented by the generation of explanations, the cognitive and social congruence of the participants and the calibration of support within the zone of proximal development. The novelty lies in substantiating peer mentoring as an independent mechanism of professional and
pedagogical development rather than only a means of supporting bachelors.
Keywords: peer mentoring, peer learning, the protege effect, master-degree moderator, projectbased learning, professional and pedagogical development, zone of proximal development, cognitive congruence, biotechnology, higher education