David Long’s primary research interest is the ethnographic documentation and analysis of science learning at the social intersection of differing ideological, religious, economic, and moral projects.

In this, he focuses on perennial problem of U.S. science education and communication, including the cognitive, social, and philosophical dimensions of student and teacher understanding of evolution, climate change science, and genetic engineering, with emphasis on how political and religious ideology mediates science education implementation in schools, universities, and in the civic discourse.