Evidence of Foundational Knowledge and Conjectural Pathways in Science Learning Progressions: A Review of Research

Learning progressions (LPs) are descriptions of successively more sophisticated ways of thinking about an idea over an extended period of time. The growing interest of researchers in learning progressions is grounded in the potential it holds to align curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Previous review of research on LPs by Duschl et al. (Studies in Science Education,47(2), 123–182, 2011) established criteria that depicts foundational knowledge and instructional pathways researchers can used to propose and empirically validate/refine LPs. Building on this, our review utilized these criteria to examine recent LPs research for: (1) evidence of foundational knowledge and conjectural pathways that can facilitate and advance learners’ reasoning and understanding of core ideas and (2) detailed or thoroughly mediated learning pathways. Articles were drawn from science education journals through five educational databases. Findings revealed competing attention for both evolutionary and validation LPs. However, there is a slow but growing convergence of thoughts on frameworks for establishing LPs. In the light of key criteria that define a complete LP, directions for validating or establishing LPs were suggested.