The Role of the Knowledgeable Other in Student-Scientist-Teacher Partnerships

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the language and interactions of a visiting scientist and a group of second-grade students (N=18). Guiding this study was the understanding that a student-scientist-teacher partnership supports a social cultural perspective that provides a zone of proximal development in a multifaceted and effective exchange of knowledge for all members of the partnership. The study examined how these interactions can be understood in terms of the zone of proximal development at different levels. It was determined that all three members of the triad can be the more knowledgeable other and move the knowledge between them.