ABSTRACT
Design, as a practice, aims to create knowledge and support knowledge use. By engaging in design with educators and other stakeholders, researchers can develop curricular and instructional resources that will be usable in school and out-of-school settings. A participatory design process can have additional benefits for the stakeholders who participate. This chapter examines how to establish, facilitate, and sustain these design teams. The authors provide background information on participatory approaches to designing curricular and instructional resources to support inquiry learning. They highlight the importance of stakeholder expertise and examples of how projects have selected participants for design teams. The authors then present four categories of recommendations: developing project vision and goals, understanding context for design, establishing roles and expectations, and fostering participation. The authors conclude the chapter with a discussion of what design teams can learn from the design process.
