Youth Leading Change: The Role of Critical Citizenship and Youth Voice to Ignite Educational and Community Reform

• In Event: Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: Media, Culture, and Learning SIG Roundtable: Exploring Media and Learning in School Spaces

Abstract

The role of citizenship in the educational process is one of necessity, yet it is often missing from our discourse. Citizenship reflects the notion that one belongs and is central to decision-making and other negotiations that occur in the educational context. For schools, viewing teachers and students as citizens allows for the following gains: student-centered work, student-directed instruction, and student-empowered learning exchanges. Using traditional content and structures (e.g., mandated content, state and national standards, etc.), teachers and students in 5 classrooms created spaces in the learning environment where students could utilize 21st Century skills in the STEAM content areas to examine social concerns and propose educational reform solutions for the school and community audiences.

Authors

• Temple Sharese Lovelace, Duquesne University

• Tyra Lynn Good, Chatham University

• Jason Boll, Pittsburgh Public Schools