Evidence of Progression

Abstract

The young reformers of NARST in 1963 criticised the previous research in science education as lacking the sense of progression that should characterise a lively research field. This lack was confirmed by John Nisbet (1974) in his review of these studies that has been mentioned in Chapter 2. The extent to which this aspect of the research has changed is the subject of this chapter, that is, it is concerned with intra-research criterion, R5. Progression. Almost half of the respondents made reference to some sense of progression in describing the significance of their work. There are, thus, many signs that researchers do have a sense of the importance of progression, but there was considerable variation in what they meant by it. Once again, for some the sense of progression was expressed in personal terms, while for others it was in terms of the issues of the field itself.

Hopefully it’s progressing towards something that is improving our understanding of how we learn and teach. We have a lot of twists and turns as we move down the road.

Vince Lunetta, USA

Yes, I was happy with it because for me — you know how research builds and builds and builds.

Ken Tobin, USA