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One of the student participants, Karina, states, “I think I joined because I felt that not everyone got the same amount of resources in school, so I wanted to see why everything happened and how I could help that…” (Mirra et al., 2016, p. 45). These students see the problems in their schools or communities and want to impact them, and we take this for granted. We have the best resource—student participants—but we do not include them for a variety of reasons.

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I am very much interested in work with “puzzling students” as their thinking can give insight to what they are digesting and not digesting.  How do  I get them to “buy In”?  Do I convince them of my investment in their eduction, community and life experience or do I just ask them how they feel?  How do I let them know I’m all In.

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Age of Participants? What is acceptable, appropriate?

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Age of Participants? What is acceptable, appropriate?

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Kinloch’s (PennGSEVideoLab, 2015) quote, “why have we chosen to ignore the perspectives of young people in our continuous, flawed, and failed attempts to ‘fix’ things?” (24:43) makes me wonder if the age of my participants does not have to be a barrier.

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One essential insight I have gained from this week’s readings as well as the video is that recognition of the funds of knowledge that participants have is of significance (Mirra, et.al., 2016).  In reading the chapter in Mirra et. al., (2016), I recall the researchers discussing how they selected students to participate in the council (recruiting and incentivizing students, p. 44). I am wondering how the selection for participants varies with the type of research one engages in?

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One essential insight I have gained from this week’s readings as well as the video is that recognition of the funds of knowledge that participants have is of significance (Mirra, et.al., 2016).  In reading the chapter in Mirra et. al., (2016), I recall the researchers discussing how they selected students to participate in the council (recruiting and incentivizing students, p. 44). I am wondering how the selection for participants varies with the type of research one engages in?

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Young people are well-situated to play a partnership role in participatory action research. Their connections to their community (Mirra et al., 2015) enrich the quality, application, and likely reception of project outcomes. 

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Young people are well-situated to play a partnership role in participatory action research. Their connections to their community (Mirra et al., 2015) enrich the quality, application, and likely reception of project outcomes. 

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All the examples also positioned students as valuable and knowledgeable.  In urban settings, students are often seen as deficient, and YPAR engaged the students as having knowledge and insights that were as equally valuable as the adult researchers.

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Second, youth participatory action research is done with students, rather than for or about them. This principle is of great importance as it positions the. students as researchers rather than objects or subjects of research, giving agency to them and power to their voices.

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Second, youth participatory action research is done with students, rather than for or about them. This principle is of great importance as it positions the. students as researchers rather than objects or subjects of research, giving agency to them and power to their voices.

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I like that Kinloch (2015) mentions how we need to address “the missing pieces that shouldn’t be missing in the first place.” I found that line very powerful and it stuck with me. Again, sometimes we don’t see those missing pieces until the students themselves bring those issues to our attention, which is why their insights are so crucial.

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I began to feel disheartened and overwhelmed as I realized the complexity of addressing these issues and making widespread changes to systems and policies in an attempt to resolve these issues universally. Fine et al. (2005) spoke directly to many of the thoughts I had as I listened to Dr. Kinloch’s presentation through their discussion of the “persistence of White privilege and the endurance of structures of oppression” (p. 407).
As I continued to listen to Dr. Kinloch, I realized that authentic partnership with individual communities is necessary for overcoming the systemic injustices that exist in school systems across the country and the world.

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YPAR, as articulated in this week’s readings, is democracy embodied; a living and ever evolving collaborative experiment, situated in a particular time and place; difficult and messy, but ever hopeful in its orientation toward what might be. Dewey believed that American democracy was in a perpetual process of becoming (Dewey, 1916). YPAR explicitly engages youth, who are also in a perpetual process of becoming, in democratic renewal. It is this promise for what might be, enacted through the not fully realized but ever present potential of young people, that makes YPAR such a hopeful endeavor. This hope is not ignorant of, but is in defiance of, the deep racism and structural inequality embedded in American society (Fine et al., 2005; Kinloch, 2015).

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YPAR, as articulated in this week’s readings, is democracy embodied; a living and ever evolving collaborative experiment, situated in a particular time and place; difficult and messy, but ever hopeful in its orientation toward what might be. Dewey believed that American democracy was in a perpetual process of becoming (Dewey, 1916). YPAR explicitly engages youth, who are also in a perpetual process of becoming, in democratic renewal. It is this promise for what might be, enacted through the not fully realized but ever present potential of young people, that makes YPAR such a hopeful endeavor. This hope is not ignorant of, but is in defiance of, the deep racism and structural inequality embedded in American society (Fine et al., 2005; Kinloch, 2015).

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In Mirra, Garcia, and Morrell’s (2016) introduction, they posit that one of the goals of YPAR is to transform educational spaces. I have a hunch (and some preliminary data) that shows the peer educators are transforming my classroom. They have certainly transformed my pedagogy and improved my students’ learning about writing in academic setting and being a part of a university community.

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12th grade student Dimitri stated that if an adult comes to a school, they can come up with a conclusion based on their observation, but a student who actually attends the school is there daily and is an expert at what their peers need (Mirra, Garcia, & Morrell, 2016, p. 13).  That is a huge potential of youth participatory action research; the ability for the student(s) to feel empowered and have a voice through the research process as the “experts.”

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In her conference, Valerie Kinloch (2015) reminded her audience that YPAR needs to be long-term with a serious commitment from the adults participating. In that way, it goes beyond a project an adult takes on as for their dissertation or short-term research. It must become a part of the researcher’s life. Youth participation changes communities and personal identities, and young people have the right to high-quality participatory action. 

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In her conference, Valerie Kinloch (2015) reminded her audience that YPAR needs to be long-term with a serious commitment from the adults participating. In that way, it goes beyond a project an adult takes on as for their dissertation or short-term research. It must become a part of the researcher’s life. Youth participation changes communities and personal identities, and young people have the right to high-quality participatory action. 

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Youth participatory action research is essentially research in which the researcher and youth researchers/participants co-construct knowledge in a context that is mutually meaningful, through the lens of social justice, in an effort to highlight the voices of marginalized peoples and work towards dismantling systems of advantage and oppression.

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Youth participatory action research is essentially research in which the researcher and youth researchers/participants co-construct knowledge in a context that is mutually meaningful, through the lens of social justice, in an effort to highlight the voices of marginalized peoples and work towards dismantling systems of advantage and oppression.