Dear colleagues,

The aims and scopes of physics education research (PER) have grown considerably wider in the past few decades, but a privileged place is still occupied by the design, testing and evaluation of content-based learning environments, interventions, and resources. Such research within PER has been often, though by no means always, framed in terms of broad categories such as teaching learning sequences (TLS) and learning progressions (LP). In many cases, design-based research (DBR)-type frameworks, notably including the Model of Educational Reconstruction (MER), have provided guidance to researchers in the design, testing and revision process.

The journal Education Sciences has asked me to serve as guest editor for a Special Issue focusing on educational design in PER, over the broadest possible range of contents, “from the very small to the entire universe”. While there have been similar thematic Special Issues in other journals in the past, the most recent one dates, to my knowledge, to about 20 years ago. It is my conviction that, in such time span, design methods in PER have evolved and improved considerably, and perhaps even more importantly, that the base of researchers working on educational design in PER, who are founding their research efforts on validated research paradigms and practices, has significantly expanded. In other words, the community has grown and has evolved towards a greater and greater research professionalism, and correspondingly, the quality of research products worldwide has increased.

For this reason, I am now inviting you, respected colleagues who I believe share an interest for educational design in Physics, to contribute to this Special Issue. The ideal contribution to the Special Issue, in consonance with the standards of the most recent research in the field, should have a solid grounding in research paradigms for educational design, and contain an extended discussion of how the choice of a framework has guided the design process. Furthermore, descriptions of learning interventions, environments, and materials should contain an evaluation of their effectiveness, with specific goals, and clear and unambiguous criteria to decide whether the objectives have been indeed met or not, and how research will proceed in either case. Examples from all levels of instruction, from K12 to university, will be considered.

It is my hope, dear colleagues, that you will accept my invitation as an opportunity to showcase the latest and most significant efforts of your research group in the area of content based educational design in physics.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

References

Anderson, T., & Shattuck, J. (2012). Design-based research: A decade of progress in education research?. Educational researcher, 41(1), 16-25.

Duit, R., Gropengießer, H., Kattmann, U., Komorek, M., & Parchmann, I. (2012). The model of educational reconstruction–A framework for improving teaching and learning science. In Science education research and practice in Europe (pp. 13-37). Brill.

Duit, R., Komorek, M., & Wilbers, J. (1997). Studies on educational reconstruction of chaos theory. Research in Science Education, 27(3), 339-357.

Duncan, R. G., & Hmelo‐Silver, C. E. (2009). Learning progressions: Aligning curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 46(6), 606-609.

Duschl, R., Maeng, S., & Sezen, A. (2011). Learning progressions and teaching sequences: A review and analysis. Studies in Science Education, 47(2), 123-182.

Méheut, M., & Psillos, D. (2004). Teaching–learning sequences: aims and tools for science education research. International Journal of Science Education, 26(5), 515-535.

Dr. Massimiliano Malgieri
Guest Editor

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• physics education
• educational design
• teaching learning sequences
• design-based research