Allowing the Outside-In: Facilitating Critical Literacies in a Youth Participatory Action Research Project

• In Event: 43.038 - Participatory Action Research: Empowering Student Voices Through the Lens of Critical Pedagogy

Abstract

This paper focuses on a school-based youth participatory action research project that engaged critical literacies as youth mentored other youth, engaged in critical inquiry regarding education and racism in their community, and produced digital media in response. Specifically, this paper addresses how critical literacies were facilitated in an elective course as youth and adult allies investigated inequities in their urban high school. Drawing from critical pedagogy, the YPAR project was led by students and their inquiry, with adult allies primarily facilitating, however specific adult expertise was utilized in order for youth to meet their goals. Additionally, the permeable boundaries of the curriculum, physical relocation beyond the classroom, and unstructured social time were key factors in engaging youth’s critical literacies.

Author

• Aimee Elizabeth Hendrix Soto, The University of Texas at Austin