In this article, the authors first indicate the range of purposes and the variety of settings in which design experiments have been conducted and then delineate five crosscutting features that collectively differentiate design experiments from other methodologies. Design experiments have both a pragmatic bent—“engineering” particular forms of learning—and a theoretical orientation—developing domain-specific theories by systematically studying those forms of learning and the means of supporting them. The authors clarify what is involved in preparing for and carrying out a design experiment, and in conducting a retrospective analysis of the extensive, longitudinal data sets generated during an experiment. Logistical issues, issues of measure, the importance of working through the data systematically, and the need to be explicit about the criteria for making inferences are discussed.

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Although the core work of science is oriented toward constructing, revising, applying, and defending models of the natural world, models appear only rarely in school science, and usually only as illustrations, rather than theory building tools. We describe the rationale and structure for a learning progression to understand the development of modeling under supportive forms of instruction. In this case, elementary and middle school students are modeling “big ideas” in the life sciences that hold the promise of serving as a conceptual foundation for reasoning about the theory of evolution later in their education. In this conceptual paper, we sketch changes from grades K through 6 in representational and modeling practices across three interlocking constructs that, considered collectively, comprise the aforementioned conceptual foundation: Change (in individuals and populations), Variation, and Ecosystems. The paper closes by delineating pedagogical principles for supporting the development of modeling across grades of instruction. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 96:701–724, 2012

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This is the author manuscript accepted for publication and has undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as

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