(Re)framing service-learning with youth participatory action research: examining students’ critical agency

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Melissa Cochrane Bocci (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Silvia Bettez

Abstract: The current push for K-12 service-learning, particularly as an intervention strategy for “at-risk” youth, makes more urgent the need for critical service-learning constructions that counter deficit ideologies. Responding to this need, the researcher designed, implemented, and researched a course-embedded service-learning project conducted with Latin@ high school students considered “at-risk” by school personnel. To explore the possibilities of creating a critical, social justice, asset-oriented service-learning project in a core classroom setting specifically designed to foster students’ critical agency, the researcher and students blended the service-learning with Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) methods. The findings of the postcritical ethnography of this course-embedded YPAR guided service-learning project indicate that the project did create a unique space within the school for fostering critical agency. Additionally, the work demonstrates how service-learning and YPAR can inform one another, creating a more asset-based and social justice-oriented practice. Finally, the findings model how teachers can successfully navigate the pedagogical, ideological, and practical challenges of fully embedding YPAR and/or service-learning projects into their core classroom practice.

Additional Information

Publication
Dissertation
Language: English
Date: 2016
Keywords
At-risk students, Critical agency, Critical youth studies, Service-learning, Spanish classroom practice, YPAR
Subjects
Action research in education
Service learning
Social justice $x Study and teaching (Secondary)
Hispanic American high school students
Hispanic American youth $x Education (Secondary)
Youth with social disabilities $x Education (Secondary)

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