Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Although there is innovation in education it tends to be sporadic and discontinuous, with the result that innovative practices seldom win out against those with a long evolutionary history. Factors contributing to this condition include the difficulty of envisioning the human consequences of innovations and the predominance of research models that do not contribute to innovation. Design research is an emerging effort to bring what Whitehead called “disciplined progress” into education, but it has not yet taken on a clear form or purpose. Design research is not defined by its methods but by the goals of those who pursue it. Design research is constituted within communities of practice that have certain characteristics of innovativeness, responsiveness to evidence, connectivity to basic science, and dedication to continual improvement.
Carl Bereiter (Sun,) studied this question.