Lessons learned from others' stories: How changemakers' stories changed us

What happens when your research changes you? In the Fall of 2011, we came together to analyze eight transcripts from interviews with Changemakers, prominent change agents who have exemplar records in enabling socially beneficial change in STEM education. Through this collaborative sensemaking research experience, we ourselves have changed. We have changed the way we think about change. In this paper we share the rarely told stories about how research can assist researchers in thinking through who we are and what we care about. Specifically, research assists in encouraging the development of collaborative learning processes which includes being able to deal with emerging themes from research data in an attempt at sensemaking.