The Youth Shall Lead Us: Student-Conducted Research as the Ultimate Educational Innovation

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This session positions student-driven research as an educational innovation that has the potential to change how educational researchers approach and investigate questions of school reform, digital literacy, civic engagement, and teaching and learning. We will present a case study of the Council of Youth Research, a school/community partnership program that positions urban youth as powerful civic agents through engaging them in youth participatory action research (YPAR) and transformative community action. This session will highlight high school student researchers (in person!), teachers, and university researchers who will discuss the ways that this program has offered new insights into community-involved inquiry. We will present this work to galvanize discussion about broadening the knowledge base that is valued in educational research.

Sub Unit

• Division G - Social Context of Education / Section 5: Social Context of Research on Schools and Communities

Chair

• Nicole Mirra, University of California - Los Angeles

Papers

• Innovative Student Research for Digital Literacy and Critical Civic Engagement - Nicole Mirra, University of California - Los Angeles; Antero Garcia, Colorado State University; Laurence Tan, University of California - Los Angeles

• Innovative Student Research for Teaching and Learning - Mark Bautista, The University of Texas - Arlington; Oscar Navarro, University of California - Los Angeles; Elexia Reyes McGovern, University of California - Los Angeles; Mary Candace Full, University of California - Los Angeles

• Innovative Student Research for Institutional Change - Melanie Bertrand, Arizona State University; D'Artagnan Scorza, University of California - Los Angeles; Isabel J. Morales, Los Angeles Unified School District; Jamie Gravell, University of California - Los Angeles

Discussant

• Ernest D. Morrell, Teachers College, Columbia University