This workshop compares and seeks to synthesize different design approaches for exploring and promoting innovative educational practices supported by collaborative technologies. Bringing the design process to the forefront to support research and the realization of products for CSCL can help to balance the different needs of researchers and practitioners. The goal of the workshop is to examine different collaborative inquiry-learning based projects to determine what key themes can be further developed to address the use of design to improve research and implementation. While science inquiry is the focus of these three approaches, the comparative and synthesis activities should be of use for workshop participants concerned with synthesizing multiple design approaches for other CSCL domains as well, such as new literacies.