This is a pre-print of: Kali, Y. (in press). Guiding frameworks for the design of inquiry learning environments. In K. Chinn, R. Golan-Duncan, S. Goldman (Eds.), International Handbook on Inquiry and Learning. Routledge. 1 Guiding Frameworks for the Design of Inquiry Learning Environments Yael Kali To appear in K. Chinn, R. Golan-Duncan, S. Goldman (Eds.), International Handbook on Inquiry and Learning. Routledge. 1 Introduction: The ‘what & why’ versus the ‘how’ in designing inquiry learning environments In their seminal book “the design way”, Nelson and Stolterman (2012) maintain that design is a tradition of human inquiry and action. As such, they juxtapose design to science, art and humanities. Research, they claim, is an inherent part of any design process, mirroring a similar reversed assertion that design is an inherent part of scientific inquiry. In the past two decades, the integration of both traditions, design and research in education, has been developed into a methodological approach. The Design based research (DBR) approach is conducted as iterative cycles of design, enactment in context, analysis, and redesign, with a goal of advancing both theory and practice (Barab & Squire, 2004; Kali & Hoadley, in press; McKenney & Reeves, 2012; The Design-Based Research Collective, 2003). This integrated approach, which has gradually become an accepted genre of research in education and the learning sciences has fostered the development of numerous learning environments (oftentimes technology-enhanced). Inquiry learning has been the focus of many of these studies, advancing our current understanding of what the learning process entails and how it can be supported. Various frameworks have been developed in an attempt to synthesize the knowledge that is gradually accumulating regarding how people learn in designed inquiry learning environments, and encapsulate this knowledge as pragmatic guidelines. Such frameworks seek to consolidate lessons learned that cut across disciplinary domains and educational contexts regarding what characterizes productive designs and why they are productive (informing design products) as well as how to go about designing such environments (informing design processes). While guidelines informing design products seek to abstract generalized constructs of learning environments that have been shown to productively support inquiry for the purpose of advancing learning theory, guidelines informing design processes explore effective mechanisms to design and develop such environments. These two types of frameworks typically originated from research fields, which in spite of many overlaps, were conducted by research communities that up to two decades ago had only little interaction, but have become less isolated in recent years. Specifically, frameworks that guide design products typically stem from research in the learning sciences, while frameworks that guide design processes stem from the field of instructional design (Carr-Chellman & Hoadley, 2004; McKenney & Kali, 2017). Accordingly, the former aim at delineating generalized design heuristics, principles and patterns, which have been shown to promote pedagogical goals and