2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This is a Work in Progress (WIP) paper that explores how and where undergraduate peer mentoring thrives in STEM learning environments, with a particular focus on first-year undergraduate engineering makerspaces, design studios, and project-based courses. These collaborative, hands-on environments foster creativity, experimentation, and peer exchange, where mentors serve as guides, role models, and facilitators of both technical and social learning. While peer mentoring is often embedded in first-year engineering courses, its presence in informal and design-driven environments remains underexplored. Existing literature tends to emphasize faculty-led mentoring or structured programs, leaving a gap in understanding how peer mentoring unfolds in student-centered learning spaces and what conditions support its effectiveness.

Motivated by the rise of experiential and project-based pedagogies in engineering education, this literature review aims to synthesize current studies that document where first-year undergraduate engineering peer mentoring occurs, how it is structured, and what student outcomes are reported, particularly in relation to engagement, belonging, and identity development.

This ongoing review follows a structured process to analyze first-year undergraduate peer mentoring across engineering education contexts, with searches conducted in ERIC and ASEE PEER. Inclusion criteria focus on studies reporting on first-year undergraduate engineering mentoring structures, student experiences, and outcomes related to engagement, belonging, or identity. Articles are being coded according to: (1) learning context (e.g., first-year design, makerspace, project-based learning), (2) mentoring model (formal or informal), (3) assessment approach (e.g., surveys, interviews, or observations), and (4) reported student outcomes. Preliminary findings suggest that peer mentoring enhances student engagement and belonging, particularly when mentors are embedded within learning environments and supported through structured preparation. However, many studies reveal inconsistent training models and limited theoretical grounding in informal engineering learning environments such as makerspaces and design studios.

This review will contribute to both research and practice by clarifying how first-year undergraduate peer mentoring operates in student-centered engineering environments and identifying conditions that enhance its impact. Insights from this synthesis may inform mentor training and the intentional integration of peer mentoring within makerspace and design-based courses. Ultimately, this work advances understanding of peer mentoring as an instructional practice that supports engagement, belonging, and participation in authentic engineering learning environments.