ABSTRACT
Rather than investigating learning and context as disconnected entities, learning research should investigate how learning and context work together to understand and predict how people learn (Barab and Squire, 2004). In such research, learning scientists address theoretical questions about the nature of learning in context, developing approaches to the study of learning phenomena in real contexts to produce evidence-based claims for their theoretical questions (Collins, Joseph, and Bielaczyc, 2004). For valid evidence-based claims, researchers should consider students’ learning over an extended period of time in various contexts because learning challenging content may take years to develop and is influenced by many factors, such as classroom contexts, instructional materials, and students’ prior knowledge and experiences (Smith et al., 2006; Duschl, Schweingruber, and Shouse, 2007). Such research involves the development of products (e.g. learning theory, instructional materials and technology tools) and explores the relevance of the products on learning rather than simply examining isolated variables within laboratory contexts (Brown, 1992; Barab and Squire, 2004). Thus, the research programme should be iterative, be process-oriented, and involve design products that work in real contexts. Such programmes of research also need appropriate methodologies. Based on our previous work, we propose using construct-centred design (CCD) as an appropriate methodology (Krajcik, Shin, Stevens, and Short, 2009; Pellegrino et al., 2008).
