Evolving Conceptions of Educational Research and Inquiry

This chapter examines how guiding conceptions for educational research and inquiry have varied and progressed over the 20th century and influenced educational practices and policy. Researchers and policymakers have taken various stances to represent how knowledge is established, refined, transmitted, and changed. Such stances influenced what is considered to be the knowledge that is most worth knowing. This historical chapter traces developments with a focus on curricula design and research on learning. The pivotal turning point is the 1950s, a disruptive decade, when significant changes occurred to psychological, philosophical, and pedagogical frameworks—three core domains that inform education theory, policy, and practice. The chapter begins with an overview of the major mid-century shifts to educational inquiry and then delves into curriculum theory and learning theory debates. Two major, and very different, models for teaching and learning are explored: constructivism and Bildung-centered Didaktik. The chapter then looks at late 20th-century reforms in science and mathematics education and in literacy traditions. Lastly, the chapter takes up an overview of the emergence of the learning sciences in education and then culminates with implications for future-focused next steps in a rapidly changing world.