Qual Quant (2013) 47:367–381 DOI 10.1007/s11135-011-9523-0 The urgent need for figures of merit in order to evaluate the performance of teaching and learning methodologies: constructive criticism from a scientific metrological discipline Waldo Quiroz · Carla Olivares · Cristian Merino · Manuel Bravo Received: 21 January 2011 / Accepted: 20 June 2011 / Published online: 2 July 2011 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011 Abstract An objective criterion for an a priori identification of which methodologies are more appropriate for dealing with the problem of teaching or learning science at a determined school level, in the case of education, are very lax or missed. Today it is difficult to objec- tively differentiate which is the best strategy for dealing with a determined teaching/learning problem. Objectivity can be achieved through modern logic taken from the formal sciences, such as statistics. In the case of metrological discipline such analytical chemistry, where as in education, there is a continuous development of new methodologies and the performance are always evaluated through which analytical chemist call “figures of merit”. In this article, we establish a guide for future research in education to develop objective parameters (figures of merit) to evaluate and compare different teaching and learning strategies following the example of other disciplines such as analytical chemistry. Keywords Figures of merit · Didactometry · Teaching and learning science 1 Introduction The common problem in the community of scientific education is the following: How can we teach science to children and young people whilst considering the abstract nature of scientific concepts?. Undoubtedly this general question has lead to an entire problem system incorporating several different disciplines such as psychology, didactics, cognitive sciences, neurosciences, linguistics, and others. W. Quiroz (B ) · M. Bravo Laboratorio de Química Analítica y Ambiental, Instituto de Química, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Avenida Universidad 330, Valparaíso, Chile e-mail: waldo.quiroz@ucv.cl W. Quiroz · C. Olivares · C. Merino Laboratorio de Didáctica de la Química, Instituto de Química, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Avenida Universidad 330, Valparaíso, Chile 123