Youth Participatory Action Research in a High School Statistics Course

• In Event: We Will Rise Up for Youth and Mathematical Youth Participatory Action Research

Abstract

After over a decade of secondary teaching experience, I have served a population of students that often struggle to feel successful, find worth, and see themselves reflected in mathematics. I view critical mathematics (Frankenstein, 1983), which builds on Freire’s (1987) notion of “conscientização” or critical consciousness, as a means to transform math education in a way that privileges all students. Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) facilitates the development of critical consciousness in students so that they find new meaning in education and see themselves as capable of promoting social change (Cammarota & Fine, 2008). In mathematics, YPAR can also support students’ development of positive mathematical and researcher identities (Raygoza, 2016).
This session will detail my experience as a high school educator implementing a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) structure in a high school applied statistics course. The balance of reflection and action (praxis) to challenge social injustices has historically been difficult for mathematics teachers due to the pressure of standards, math content, and local district pressures. Long-withstanding systemic issues in education, particularly in politically conservative states like Arizona, where this project was conducted, impede deliberate actions toward change and social justice in mathematics. Yet, my students demonstrated incredible social awareness. The math YPAR course was driven by the strengths that my students demonstrated and serves as a reminder that students should be viewed as assets to classroom YPAR. Their ability to handle conversations about complex social issues with emotional maturity indicated a need to repurpose mathematics as a tool to understand, critique, and change the world. For this reason, Applied Statistics was created and offered as a fourth-year math option for high school seniors. The course allowed students to explore and interpret social issues through statistical analysis. Grounded in their lived experiences, students engaged in an inquiry-based process to identify topics of investigation. Students acted as collaborators in the research process, using statistical analysis to assess their chosen issue.
Mathematics and STEM in general, are often perceived to be disjointed from YPAR methodologies, meaning limited studies in a field rife with racial and gender inequity (Anderson, 2020). While most YPAR projects included relationship- and capacity-building, when engaging in YPAR in mathematics, relationship-building went beyond the teacher-to-student and included student-to-mathematics. Furthermore, the tensions of this work are analyzed through Anzaldúa’s (2013) conception of Nepantla, a Nahuatl word, used to describe the space between worlds, realities, and systems of knowledge- where the discomfort leads to new ways of asking questions, new theories, and new wisdom. This math YPAR experience will further embrace critical mathematics and how nepantla is manifested in this work by discussing the physical and metaphysical distance between mathematical action and mathematical reflection - when do they overlap? When are they separate and what can connect them if they are apart? One answer is math.

Author

• Larissa Peru, University of Arizona