Buscando la Luz: Children’s Expressions of Dignity in a Co-Designed Workshop

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 8:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Dismantling Harmful Systems and Structures in K-12 Settings (Table 3)

Abstract

This study, a co-designed workshop with ten children, seeks to understand how learning experiences affirm and recognize our fundamental right to learn—a right inherent as dignity bearing beings (Barak, 2015). I examined video data to analyze how children experience educational dignity defined as the sense a person’s worth felt through the cultivation of their mind, humanity and potential (Espinoza, et al, 2020). Expressions of dignity were observed in children’s transformation of participation as they expressed themselves more frequently and fluidly in circle time and persevered through complex tasks initiated from their ideas. Thus, the principles of respect for human dignity are foundational in pursuit of educational justice and for the design of learning that recognizes the human right to learn.

Author

• Adria Padilla-Chavez, University of Colorado - Boulder