Education research is an academic activity, and is often carried out by teachers (see, for example, Lavonen & Reinikainen, 2014). Lavonen and Reinikainen report that Finnish teachers are required to have a Masters degree involving education research. In the UK, the PGCE and its equivalent, from a schools-HEI partnership, usually carries Masters' credits while schools-based courses do not. This article tracks the recent study of diagrams in learning science by a teacher-researcher group, called PALAVA (see www.palava. wikispaces.com). Such documentation of a group carrying out collaborative research is uncommon, but shows how they engaged with methodologies and methods. Since its beginnings 17 years ago, the group has investigated visualising and modelling. Most members of this group are experienced secondary teachers willing to respect, yet, critique science education research.