“Math Is a Powerful Tool”: Youth Participatory Action Research in Algebra 1

• In Event: Roundtable Session 39
  In Roundtable Session: Youth Participatory Action Research Reveals the Power of Liberatory Curriculum and Grassroots Pedagogy

Abstract

As a high school teacher and researcher, I posed the question: How can I design and facilitate a youth participatory action research (YPAR) project in Algebra 1 to make mathematics more meaningful and relevant to my students’ lives and struggle, and provide a space to connect academic learning to critical research skills and youth activism? This inquiry on my teaching and classroom shows that YPAR in math can support students to have a more positive perception and understanding of mathematics, build critical research skills, and involve students in developing as change agents. Furthermore, this research reflects on the systemic challenges of YPAR in the classroom – the tension between a problem-posing education and the expectation for standards-based, test-centered instruction.

Author

• Mary Candace Full, University of California - Los Angeles