Knowing What I Can Do and Who I Can Be: Youth Identify Transformational Benefits of Participatory Action Research.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2013
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Ethnographic & Qualitative Research
Abstract
To engage critically in their communities, young people must be equipped to identify and study problems that directly affect them. Our qualitative study reveals that youth participatory action research (YPAR) is one such approach, disclosing and affirming inherent gifts and talents in youth while collaboratively developing within them the critical skills to affect social change. We analyzed interviews, focus groups, participant observations, and student writing across 17 classrooms serving 290 students in two high schools to explore what students articulated learning through a YPAR curriculum. Students confidently claimed new roles and were transformed by the process. Our findings suggest that students engaged in YPAR have opportunities to develop skills they may not otherwise acquire within a traditional teacher-centered classroom.
MSU Digital Commons Citation
Zaal, Mayida and Terry, John, "Knowing What I Can Do and Who I Can Be: Youth Identify Transformational Benefits of Participatory Action Research." (2013). Department of Teaching and Learning Scholarship and Creative Works. 199.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/teaching-learning-facpubs/199
Published Citation
Zaal, M., & Terry, J. (2013). Knowing What I Can Do and Who I Can Be: Youth Identify Transformational Benefits of Participatory Action Research. Journal of Ethnographic & Qualitative Research, 8(1), 42–55.