High School Students’ and Scientists’ Experiential Descriptions of Cogenerative Dialogs

Abstract

Working with scientists has been suggested as an effective way for high school students to learn science more authentically. However, several challenges hinder partnerships between students and scientists, such as intimidation issues, the complexity of scientific language, and communication barriers. The purpose of this phenomenographic study was to introduce a pedagogical tool, cogenerative dialogs (cogens), to improve student–scientist partnerships and to investigate high school students’ experience of cogens with scientists. The analysis of high school students’ and scientists’ experiences of cogens in this study suggested four positive and two challenging experiences that shed light on the use of cogens by two distinctly different groups of stakeholders. This study demonstrates positive evidence that cogens can help students build a stronger bond with scientists to enhance their science learning. Suggestions to improve cogen practices between students and scientists are provided.