A critical debate has blossomed within the field of research policy, science and technology studies, and philosophy of science regarding the possible benefits and limitations of allocating extramural grants using a lottery system. The most common view among those supporting the lottery idea is that some form of modified lottery is acceptable, if…

The growing differentiation of specialties in education creates the need for a common framework. This chapter discusses the basic premises of complex dynamical systems theory (CDST), its intellectual foundations, and its applicability to the field of education, with a particular focus on the areas of learning and development, school reform, and…

Models are at the core of scientific reasoning and science education. They are especially crucial in scientific and educational contexts where the primary objects of study are unobservables. While empirical science education researchers apply philosophical arguments in their discussions of models and modeling, we in turn look at exemplary…

Metacognition comprises both the ability to be aware of one's cognitive processes (metacognitive knowledge) and to regulate them (metacognitive control). Research in educational sciences has amassed a large body of evidence on the importance of metacognition in learning and academic achievement. More recently, metacognition has been studied from…

How far has sustainable development that has dominated the agendas of politicians, academics, and world organizations for the past four decades gone? Do politicians, academics, and organizations have to look elsewhere for solutions? This article attempts to answer the second question: There may be solutions other than politics and the academy to…

Despite ongoing disagreement about what kinds of evidence are most valuable to education, there continues to be an increasing push to make a narrow group of scientific methodologies the basis of educational policy and practice. This has created a growth in the use of randomised control trials (RCTs), which are considered an exemplary example of…

This article historicizes "rigor," discipline," and "systematic" as inventions of a certain rational spirit of Enlightenment that was radicalized during the 19th century. These terms acquired temporary value in a transition during the 19th century when a culture of research was established within a modern episteme.…

Despite advances in discussions about the nature of science, there is still a paucity of discussion on the ontological dimension of science in science education research that makes it difficult to defend its content and teaching. In this article, the reasons for trusting science and science education are analyzed through three arguments. The first…

A Citizen Science approach to building the evidence base is well established in many science disciplines, but is far from main stream in the social sciences. Prompted from the inquiry by the Australian Government's Productivity Commission into the National Education Evidence Base and taking Early Childhood Education (ECE) as an example, this paper…

Purpose: This paper has a twofold purpose: (1) to demonstrate, largely with historical evidence, that, contrary to what some have argued, thinking about educational research articulated at the start of the twenty-first century was not really "new wine in new bottles" but, rather, a continuation of the so-called paradigm wars about,…

This non-traditional article identifies a series of questions pursued and/or critiqued within inquiries about climate change education (CCE) and research. The questions and clustering format were initially crystallised from summaries and critical discussion with editors, referees, and critical friends of this journal, during the process of…

We will attempt a synthesis from various research perspectives that have analyzed the alterations that knowledge inevitably goes through while percolating into classroom activities. We will try to identify some of their causes and will illustrate them with examples in genetics. First, we will discuss some research on knowledge transformation when…

This essay argues for the urgent need for philosophy as the necessary first step in any educational undertaking. Philosophy is involved with making fine distinctions which are necessary to clarify concepts and terms. The paper focuses primarily on the problems with an overreliance on scientific research in the social sciences, with special…

Driven by our recent mapping of the human genome, genetics research is increasingly prominent and beginning to reintersect with education research. We describe previous intersections of these fields, focusing on the ways that they were harmful. We then discuss novel features of genetics research in the current era, with an emphasis on…

In this article, I autoethnographically consider my experiences as a Métis scholar of mixed Indigenous and European ancestry based in Canada as an entry point for exploration of critical, interpretive, Indigenous and other traditional and contemporary research paradigms relevant to the field of Indigenous environmental education. Foundational…