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4. THE PHASES OF DESIGN RESEARCH 
The research questions (see Section 2.1.) are answered in the three following empirical case 
studies (see Sections 4.1. and 4.2.) and one theoretical study (see Section 4.3.), which 
produced new understanding of the design context. 
The design phases of this dissertation aimed to generate (Edelson, 2002): 
i)
 
A collaboratively developed, practical 
design solution
for ESD in chemistry, 
which takes the form of an inquiry-based teaching concept related to product LCA 
(
RQ1, Article I
), 
ii) 
Information about the design solution’s
effects 
on students’ environmental 
literacy, interest in studying and argumentation skills (
RQ2–3, Articles II 
and 
III
), 
and 
iii) 
Domain knowledge
about ESD in chemistry (
RQ4, Article IV
). 
The phases of the interventional design process were cyclic. This means that not only the 
problem analysis contributed to the selection of the design methodologies, but also the 
knowledge and results gained contributed to the problem setting. The cyclic design process is 
iterative, meaning that the every phase affects the phases after it. The three main phases can 
be recognised from the design process. These phases and their focus at different stages of the 
process are illustrated in Figure 6.
The initial problem analysis of literature, chemistry course books and curricula resulted in 
chemistry teachers designing a design solution “prototype” created during the first in-service 
training course (Juntunen, 2011). This prototype was further developed during Phases 1 and 2, 
which constituted of three empirical case studies (
RQ1–3, Articles I–III)
. Phase 1 focused on 
the teachers’ concepts and resulted in the creation of the design solution – the IBL-LCA 
concept. Phase 2 focused on the effects of design solution in terms of students’ perspectives 
about the concept and their environmental literacy. These results were analysed in Juntunen 
(2013). Phase 2 also further investigated the design solution effects on students’ 
argumentation skills. Based on the empirical knowledge gained, Phase 3 included a 
theoretical problem analysis in order to create domain knowledge about the features of 
holistic ESD in chemistry (
RQ4, Article IV
). Finally, this dissertation answers to the main 
research question. 

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