Compare methods

	Learning Progressions Analysis	Design-based Research
Field	Education	Field Methods
Family	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	2009	1992
Originator	Science and mathematics education research (Corcoran, Mosher, Rogat; Wilson; Clements & Sarama)	Ann L. Brown and Allan Collins (independently, 1992)
Type	Empirically grounded ordered description of how understanding develops over time	Interventionist qualitative-quantitative mixed methodology
Seminal source	Corcoran, T., Mosher, F. A., & Rogat, A. (2009). Learning Progressions in Science: An Evidence-Based Approach to Reform (CPRE Research Report RR-63). Consortium for Policy Research in Education.	Brown, A. L. (1992). Design experiments: Theoretical and methodological challenges in creating complex interventions in classroom settings. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 2(2), 141–178.
Aliases	Learning Trajectories, Progress Variables, Learning Progression Validation, Construct Maps	DBR, design research, design experiment, educational design research
Related	4	6
Summary	Learning progressions analysis is a methodology for describing and validating the typical paths by which students' understanding of a core concept grows more sophisticated over time. A learning progression hypothesizes an ordered sequence of increasingly advanced ways of thinking — from naive ideas to expert understanding — and then tests that ordering against evidence of how students actually reason. Prominent in science and mathematics education, it links a theory of the domain, the design of assessment tasks, and a measurement model into a coherent description of conceptual development.	Design-based research (DBR) is an iterative, interventionist methodology that simultaneously designs educational interventions and builds theory about how and why those interventions work in authentic, complex settings. Originating in Ann Brown's 1992 classroom experiments and Allan Collins's parallel work, DBR treats the learning environment as both the object of study and the site of theory generation, cycling through design, enactment, analysis, and redesign until both practical improvement and theoretical insight are achieved.