Engaging Stakeholders in Productive Meetings to Reform Science Education.

A course is described which prepared graduate students to engage stakeholders in productive meetings to reform science education and to prepare for future leadership roles in science teacher education reform. Have you ever spent hours in a meeting in which you thought progress had been made only to come back to a follow-up meeting and find yourself addressing the same issues as if they had never been discussed before? Leaders all over the United States have been experiencing this ever since funding agencies and other political institutions began requiring active participation from multiple stakeholders in science education decision-making to forward the reform of our enterprise. This paper presents suggestions for leaders in science education to assist in developing effective stakeholder groups contributing to the reform in science education. In this political climate initiatives to reform science teacher education and science education for students K-16 are expected to involve stakeholders from a variety of sectors in schools, universities, and the community. Facilitating the organization and work of such groups usually falls to the current leaders in science education in schools, state agencies, and universities. The diverse backgrounds of the various stakeholders are a double-edged sword. On one hand, they provide new ideas from which to develop creative programs. On the other hand, the varied perspectives that enrich the base of ideas also create enormous communication barriers that often impede progress. "Understanding the multitude of perspectives held by the varied stakeholders in science education is essential to ensure that all of us work toward common goals" (Spector, Strong & King, 1996). Leaders, therefore, need to be prepared with an armamentarium of techniques to orchestrate the work of stakeholders. The suggestions offered herein emerged from a grounded theory study (Erickson, 1998; Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Jacobs, 1987) of an exercise in facilitated stakeholder discussion aimed at creating an ideal science teacher education program consistent with today's national goals. The findings are applicable to developing science programs for school students as well. This exercise was conducted in a university doctoral course. Deriving recommendations for ways to facilitate human interactions in groups from studying students in university settings is common practice in the social sciences. The participants in the course constituted a microcosm of stakeholder groups at work throughout the nation in both informal and formal settings. Stakeholders included (a) a formal audience of educators-community college, university science educators, and scientists-science supervisors, teaching practitioners, research scientists, and education specialists, and (b) a community audience representing business, industry, youth development, and education and outreach (e.g. science enrichment programs, teacher workshops, and informal programs). From this exercise two types of information were learned that are important for leaders when facilitating stakeholder interactions. First, several alternative processes of facilitation were initiated in this course setting in reaction to different forms of resistance. We report the types of techniques that were effective in addressing instances of resistance and fostering open and effective participation by all members of the stakeholder community. Second, we offer several suggestions about how the lessons learned from this facilitation might be applied to professional development workshops and simulations that bring stakeholders together to develop reforms in science education. In the wake of 9/11 professional simulations are becoming a more common tool for professional development in the light of addressing crises. We suggest that similar types of exercises may be meaningful for developing techniques for science education reform. The National Context In the early 1990s the National Science Foundation (NSF) indicated there was an urgent need for stakeholder groups to work together collaboratively to design and implement reformed teacher education programs and created the Collaboratives for Excellence in Teacher Preparation (CETP) program to facilitate that reform. …