Designing Learning Through Learning to Design

This paper represents a conversation between a high school science teacher and a university researcher as they found common ground in the theory and experiences of designing powerful learning experiences. The teacher describes an instructional unit in which students designed a complex, interactive display showing what life may have been like during the Mesozoic Era. The researcher offers analysis of that activity through the lens of design and design-based learning. Their voices intentionally co-mingle as they illuminate aspects of one another's work – the pedagogical work of the teacher, and the theoretical analysis of the researcher. The conversation provides useful insight for teachers wishing to employ design-based learning in their classrooms and an important analytic lens for researchers to view teaching and learning.