Science education research practices and its boundaries: on methodological and epistemological challenges

Abstract

In this commentary, I try to explore more consequences of the objective set by Sherman, Bateman, Jeong and Hudock (Cult Stud Sci Edu, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-019-09961-8 ), namely, “what is science education research as to consider the possibilities of what may also be, but not yet is”. I argue that the main potency of the article is the fact that they push on the practices of science education research field, potentially expanding the way we can think science education research. I put forward the argument that this can be done epistemologically and methodologically and it must be guided by a broad ethical commitment to education, so that we can restore the debate on the ends of science education. To this end, I divide the article into three sections: in the first, I take science education as a set of scientific practices, and as such, it is open to the dispute of meanings and ways of doing. Secondly, I draw considerations on the challenges and opportunities of qualitative research in post-positivist (science) education, which challenge certain traditions found in science education that still rely on a positivist bias. Finally, I elaborate some final comments, where I discuss possibilities for the direction of science education as a field of scientific practices.