Chapter 20: Using Cogenerative Dialogues to Expand and Extend Students’ Learning

Over the past decade, instructors at all levels have used cogenerative dialogues (cogens) to research issues impacting the teaching and learning of science through the generation of local knowledge. Cogens’ pedagogy|research dialectic provides a structure for teachers and students to identify conditions that may improve teaching and learning, to allocate individual and collective responsibility for learning, to generate optimal learning conditions and to establish a research agenda based upon local knowledge and experiences. Cogens can provide empowerment to disenfranchised students and teachers. This chapter will discuss the theoretical basis for cogens, provide details on their use in different learning environments and document how using cogens’ pedagogy|research dialectic can improve science learning and teaching.