LABORATORY APPRENTICESHIP THROUGH A STUDENT RESEARCH-PROJECT

There has been a long tradition of laboratory activities associated wi th science instruction. Despite constructivists' claims advocating ope n-ended inquiry and mentoring, little is known about what students are thinking when engaged in laboratory activities. Laboratory learning a s a process of cognitive apprenticeship has been proposed as a metapho r to guide teacher practice and student learning. The viability of cog nitive apprenticeship for learning science in school is discussed in r elation to findings from an investigation of a research project involv ing high school students working in a university chemical engineering laboratory under the mentorship of a university-based scientist. Data from a variety of techniques were analyzed in an interpretive style. W e found that the students were empowered to seek empirically viable kn owledge claims as they became independent researchers. However, we arg ue that caution needs to be exercised before advocating open-ended inq uiry as a general model for laboratory learning without additional stu dies in different contexts.