Whereas some educational designers believe that students should learn newconcepts through explorative problem solving within dedicated environments that con-strain key parameters of their search and then support their progressive appropriation ofempowering disciplinary forms, others are critical of the ultimate efficacy of this dis-covery-based pedagogical philosophy, citing an inherent structural challenge of studentsconstructing historically achieved conceptual structures from their ingenuous notions. Thisspecial issue presents six educational research projects that, while adhering to principles ofdiscovery-based learning, are motivated by complementary philosophical stances andtheoretical constructs. The editorial introduction frames the set of projects as collectivelyexemplifying the viability and breadth of discovery-based learning, even as these projects:(a) put to work a span of design heuristics, such as productive failure, surfacing implicitknow-how, playing epistemic games, problem posing, or participatory simulation activi-ties; (b) vary in their target content and skills, including building electric circuits, solvingalgebra problems, driving safely in traffic jams, and performing martial-arts maneuvers;and (c) employ different media, such as interactive computer-based modules for con-structing models of scientific phenomena or mathematical problem situations, networkedclassroom collective ‘‘video games,’’ and intercorporeal master–student training practices.The authors of these papers consider the potential generativity of their design heuristicsacross domains and contexts

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• Reinventing discovery learning: a field-wide research program