Agency, Co-Learning, and Belonging: A Three-Pronged Approach for Transforming K–12 Learning

• In Event: Grasping the Elephant: International Perspectives on Truth-Making in Participatory Design Research Projects

Abstract

The recent surge of calls for reimagining education in the U.S. have centered the conversation about schooling on educators to “challenge the construction of knowledge that rarely gives students access to knowledge and information about how we make decisions about what counts as valuable” (Ladson-Billings, 2021, p. 70). Over the past 30 years, a consortium of scholars, many of whom are represented in this proposed session, have led the creation of community-based partnerships founded on such a philosophy of learning. A recent addition to this consortium, Community Based Literacies (hereon referred to as CBL) provides participating youth opportunities to critically explore how our society works and to participate as equitable members in communicative efforts to highlight and transform inequities that impact the dignity and wellbeing of all who live within our society.

CBL is a youth-centered, multi-program initiative within the central coast of California founded on three core values–agency, co-learnership, and belonging. This overarching trio guides decisions about project goals and outcomes that reflect the interests and motivations of participating youth within each program site. As such, young, multilingual participants are positioned as co-learners with undergraduates within our university, most of whom are pursuing a minor in education. Our programming is designed to engage and support participating undergraduates who have indicated interest in pursuing a career in education. A key component of undergraduate training by graduate coordinators and lead faculty is to raise questions that reveal hidden agendas, biases, and other sources of inequity about local phenomena of interest (e.g., the dumping of debris on public beaches following mudslides). Steeped within a sociocultural, critical perspective of literacy that is multimodal (visual, spoken, written, etc.) and inclusive of participants’ funds of knowledge (González et al., 2006) and experience, CBL is a place-based initiative designed to engage all members (youth and their family members, undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty) as collaborators in knowledge building and innovation.

In this explorative study, we employed approaches associated with critical ethnography that positions university researchers as activists who are keenly aware of the cultural, social, and economic inequities and participants as knowledgeable guides (Brayboy et al., 2012; Carspecken, 2013). As such, authors systematically explored available artifacts that highlighted experiences from the viewpoints of young co-learners clarified through interactions during sessions. Such artifacts included audio and video records of CBL session activities and creative works produced from collaborative efforts in addressing a local problem (e.g., PSA on local institutional policies inhibiting successful recycling of plastic) to address the following line of inquiry: What counts as important for becoming an active steward of one’s community? Findings from our exploration reveal what possibilities abound when young students are given access to knowledge about community phenomena, local issues related to such phenomena, and a platform by which youth can contribute to the transformations needed for a socially just and equitable society. Simply put, learning experiences are best realized through place-based, consequential endeavors in which the practicing of multilingual literacies leads to potential transformations within the community.

Authors

• Diana J. Arya, University of California - Santa Barbara
  Presenting Author

• John Cano, University of California - Berkeley
  Presenting Author

• Devon Michaela Christman, University of California - Santa Barbara
  Presenting Author

• Valerie Meier, University of California - Santa Barbara
  Presenting Author

• Rachelle Mottus, University of California - Santa Barbara
  Presenting Author

• Alexandria Muller, University of California - Santa Barbara
  Presenting Author

• Dogukan Ozgen, University of California - Santa Barbara
  Presenting Author

• Estefanía Pihen Gonzalez, University of California Santa Barbara
  Presenting Author

• Matthew James Shackley, University of California - Santa Barbara
  Presenting Author