"I Don't Just Want to Be Quiet Anymore": Youth Developing Skills, Finding Voice, and Transforming Their Communities Through Community Engagement and Participatory Project-Based Learning

• In Event: 33.051 - Critical Education as an Act of Knowing

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the development of civic identity and action among Latino/a and African American youth attending an alternative high school serving the educational, social, and cultural needs of youth in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood. More specifically, this paper investigates the role of particular instructional approaches, such as Project-based Learning (PBL), in the promotion of community involvement and action. Using qualitative and Participatory Action Research methods, researchers worked with teachers and youth to study research projects that senior high school students designed and implemented, in collaboration with various community-based organizations and research mentors, to address community issues and problems.

Authors

• Laura Ruth Johnson, Northern Illinois University

• Enid Marie Rosario-Ramos, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor