Student-scientist partnerships are based on the idea, that students learn science best, if they work like real scientists. A multitude of learning opportunities arise from authentic research settings. The experience of authentic science is supposed to support students in understanding the nature of science (NOS), in attaining scientific content knowledge and boosting confidence and self-efficacy regarding the way scientist work and think. However, do learners really succeed in exploiting these opportunities?
In the context of the Austrian research project “Woody Woodpecker”, about 44 students aged 15-19 years investigated the anatomy of conifers together with scientists from the University of Innsbruck. Thereby they ran more or less through every step of a research process. An empirical social research approach was applied to learn more about whether and how participants develop their understanding of the Nature of Science (NOS) and become more self-confident in doing science. Data was collected via participating observations, questionnaires and interviews in a pre-post intervention design. Findings suggest that there is a small but significant increase in the students NOS understanding in in the fields of “experiments” and “characteristics of a scientist” in particular. In addition “confidence and self-efficacy” is increasing. Students had difficulties in understanding that science is characterized by a simple and precise language and that scientific laws and theories are explained as simply as possible. Participating in a research project does not lead to the desired NOS understanding as such. Particular attention has be paid to specific aspects of students individual learning experience.
Keywords: Nature of science (NOS), learning opportunities, Student-Scientist-Partnerships;
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