Entrepreneurial Leadership in STEM Teaching and Learning

EnLiST EnLiST

Developing Entrepreneurial Teacher Leaders

Presenters:

Jeanne Koehler, Raymond Price, and Fouad Abd-El-Khalick

Conceptualizing Entrepreneur

How would you define:

• Entrepreneur

• Entrepreneurship

• Entrepreneurial

Generating Knowledge Through EnLiST

• Overview of EnLiST• Conceptualizing Entrepreneurial Teacher Leadership• Creating a Conceptual Framework• Engaging Entrepreneurial Leadership within EnLiST• Discussion

Purpose and Goals of EnLiST

EnLiST aims to build the capacity of a new generation of science teacher leaders through:

Teachers contribute to transforming science teaching and learning in their classrooms, schools, and districts.

• cutting edge content and pedagogical knowledge institutes;

• building a community;• fostering an entrepreneurial spirit and mindset.

Overview of EnLiST

EnLiST began in 2009 and includes:

• a focus on physics and chemistry (high school) and physical sciences (elementary and middle school);

• a three year commitment/engagement from teachers;

• a series of summer institutes on the Illinois campus coupled with school-year activities and support;

• partnership and collaborative activities within and across partners;

• entrepreneurial leadership opportunities.

Conceptualizing Entrepreneurial Leadership

A conceptual journey featuring:• a process;• interdisciplinary participation;• concept mapping and sorting;• operationally defining and redefining terms;• messiness.

Entrepreneurial Teacher Leader Conceptual Framework

Moved forward through:• more extensive review of the literature;

– Social Networks– Teacher Leadership– Entrepreneurship: Business, Social, Intellectual, and Educational

• ongoing discussions with interdisciplinary research team;• concept mapping and visualizing.

Research Team

• Fouad Abd-El-Khalick, Science Education• Liora Bresler, Qualitative Research and Intellectual

Entrepreneurship• Janet Gaffney, Special Education and Teacher Leadership• Wei Gao, GSLIS and Social Networking• Caroline Haythornthwaite, GSLIS and Social Networking• Jeanne Koehler, Organizational Change and Educational

Entrepreneurship• Anita Martin, EnLiST Project Coordinator • Raymond Price, Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering• Patricia Shapely, Chemistry

Overall Conceptual Model

Social Networks

• Actors– Nodes in the network– Interact and maintain relations with each

other

• Relations– Lines in the network– Connect actors in specific kinds of

interaction

• Ties– Lines between actors– Ties exist between actors who are

connected by one or more relations

• Networks– Whole configuration of ties and actors

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Social Network Questions• Addressing information flow among teachers about science and

science teaching

• Questionnaire Summer 2009– Re 5 to 8 people you communicate with most frequently about science

and science teaching

• (1) who do you learn from about science and science teaching?

• (2) who learns from you about science and science teaching?

• Describe briefly what you / they learn

• Interviews Fall 2009 (n=14)– More in-depth about: relationships with those they learn from, what they

learn from others, significant learning experiences, change or innovation in science teaching

Educational Entrepreneurship

• An era of educational entrepreneurship has begun. • Unconventional thinkers have founded organizations that

are influencing K-12 education.• Innovative models for delivering instruction and

recruitment of teachers have been introduced.

(Hess, 2007, p. 21)

Developing Entrepreneurial Teacher Leaders

Since the early twentieth century, educational entrepreneurs have made major changes in U.S. public school goals, governance, organization, and curriculum.

(Cuban, 2006, p. 224).

EnLiST teacher leaders will:• increase science content knowledge;• develop and maintain more complex social networks;• build entrepreneurial leadership competencies.

Educational Entrepreneurship Defined

An entrepreneurial educator:• changes the school system in significant or fundamental

ways;• creates innovations that disrupt the status quo;• transforms the system itself.

(Teske & Williamson, 2005, p. 45)

Entrepreneurial Teacher Leader Conceptual Framework

Entrepreneurial Teacher Leaders:Challenges For Teachers

Teachers:• often work alone with small networks;• have limited non-classroom experience and responsibilities;• have little exposure to leadership development and

competency building;• face economic, political, and regulatory constraints;• lack of organizational encouragement for innovation;• encounter systemic forces that limit innovation (real and

perceived).

Developing Entrepreneurial Teacher Leaders

Teacher leaders are encouraged to:• identify opportunities to enhance science teaching and

learning;• create innovations in instructional delivery;• broaden social networks;• use entrepreneurial competencies to foster change at the

classroom, school, and district level.

Building Entrepreneurial Teacher Leader Competencies

Entrepreneurial Leadership course focuses on:• building entrepreneurial competencies;• gaining perspective (recognizing how one sees the world);• practicing engagement and leadership skills;• partnering with cascade teachers;• creating entrepreneurial leadership projects that are

supported;• ongoing coaching and mentoring to sustain project

development.

Ongoing Research and Measurement

• Evaluation team is collecting formative and summative data throughout the 5-year project.

• Data will include:– surveys (mid and post surveys);– content assessments;– interviews;– observations (using Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol).

• Assessment data from state and classroom tests.• Ongoing research: social networks and entrepreneurial

leadership.

Discussion