The Persuasive and the Convincing: In Search of a Functional Characterization of Educational Interventions in Science

Addressed to professionals and researchers, this article proposes a reflection on the issues and risks associated with certain uses of labels that allow qualification of tested, promoted or contested pedagogical practices and interventions in science education. Often paired in dichotomies, these labels are here presented as sometimes generating credibility problems for research efforts that invoke them, as well as misunderstandings and prejudices when imprudently invoked in teacher training. The article thus proposes an original, dichotomous, and functional formula for characterizing educational efforts, drawing on the ordinary difference in everyday language between persuasion and conviction.