| Summary: | Peirce's theory of inquiry has long been celebrated for its ability to accommodate dynamicism in thinking and learning. However, his theory presents a challenge to education researchers by questioning the capacity of science to provide universal understandings of learners who are dynamic and evolving. I argue that effective models of educational development should acknowledge ongoing variation in growing beings and incorporate its relevance into scientific models of understanding, and I present Peirce's developmental teleology as a valuable framework toward this goal. Accepting a developmental teleology has two prominent implications for educational science: first, it calls for an eliminative, rather than accumulative, approach to natural law, and second, it reorients the causal structure of natural law to stem from chance rather than fully relying on mechanistic principles to explain growth. A departure from strict mechanism better positions educational researchers to evolve in their inquiry, strengthens the personal agency of all educational stakeholders, and expands the ability of educators to celebrate learning.
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