Students meet authentic science: the valence and foci of experiences reported by high-school biology students regarding their participation in a science outreach programme

This qualitative, phenomenological study presents the experiences of high-school biology students (n = 233) in an outreach programme titled Students Meet Authentic Science. The core of the programme consists of students' visits to life-science university research laboratories (from here on referred to as labs). The programme was designed according to the science-as-inquiry approach, which emphasises learning about science, as well as the important feature of conducting dialogues with scientists on issues pertaining to the nature of science. Data were collected through interviews, reflective journals, and questionnaires (which included both open-ended questions and Likert-like responses to given statements). The qualitative data were analysed using open content analysis, whereas quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Findings indicate that students had a wide range of significant cognitive, introspective, social, and object-related experiences. The majority of the students' experiences were positive. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed within.