scholarly journals Prefiguring Sustainability through Participatory Action Research Experiences for Undergraduates: Reflections and Recommendations for Student Development

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 3332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlie Trott ◽  
Andrea Weinberg ◽  
Laura Sample McMeeking
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Student Development ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Structural Barriers ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Research Experiences

PAR-based UREs are undergraduate research experiences (UREs)—built into university-community partnerships—that apply principles of participatory action research (PAR) towards addressing community-defined challenges. In this paper, we advance PAR-based UREs as an action-oriented framework through which higher education institutions can simultaneously enact and advance the United Nations sustainable development agenda, while cultivating student development. We draw upon interdisciplinary scholarship on sustainable development and PAR, as well as empirical findings from a pilot program, to accomplish dual goals. First, through the lens of six Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) clusters, we explore the synergies between undergraduate PAR engagement and sustainable development, explaining how PAR-based UREs can prefigure and facilitate SDG achievement by promoting cross-sector collaboration and supporting diverse stakeholder engagement through community-driven research and action. Second, within each SDG cluster, we offer complementary reflections and recommendations around the design and implementation of PAR-based UREs towards advancing students’ skills and abilities as: (1) Community Collaborators (and Learners); (2) Community-Engaged Researchers; (3) (Interdisciplinary) Scholars; (4) Agents of Change; (5) (Sustainable) Co-Innovators; and (6) Institutional Representatives. Finally, we discuss the critical role of higher education institutions in minimizing structural barriers to PAR-based URE implementation, given their prefigurative and practical potential for both SDG achievement and student development.

Preparing Critical Educators and Community-Engaged Scholars Through Participatory Action Research

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Meagan Call-Cummings ◽  
Melissa Hauber-Özer ◽  
Jennifer Rainey
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
The United States ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Discrete Method ◽  
Emancipatory Pedagogy ◽  
The University

Participatory action research (PAR) is a community-based form of inquiry conducted with individuals affected by an issue or problem being studied rather than about them. Rather than a method of inquiry, PAR is an epistemological stance towards knowledge and knowledge creation that is rooted in critical, emancipatory pedagogy. Because it is an orientation, rather than a discrete method, PAR is difficult to teach. Here the authors explore the experiences of both undergraduate pre-service teachers and doctoral students as they seek to reconcile PAR principles and practice with their personal and professional backgrounds. The purpose is not to present the best approach for teaching PAR in the university classroom; rather, it is a reflective exploration of the experiences of the authors' participants, which reveals rich insights into what it feels like to become researchers within the ‘culture' of formal higher education in the United States.

scholarly journals Action research with young people: possibilities and ‘messy realities’

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (3-2019) ◽  
pp. 255-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry Percy-Smith ◽  
Morena Cuconato ◽  
Christian Reutlinger ◽  
Nigel Patrick Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Young People ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Youth Research ◽  
Funded Project ◽  
Informal Settings

This paper reflects on our experiences of using participatory action research (PAR) with young people as part of an EU H2020 project exploring the spaces and styles of youth participation in formal, nonformal and informal settings. The paper outlines key tenets of action research and provides a brief review of the literature concerning the use of PAR in youth research. Drawing on three case studies, we provide an honest account of some of the messy realities involved in realising the promise of participatory action research in practice. The central focus is on how the action research played out in practice, the challenges of undertaking PAR within the context of a funded project with predefined deliverables, the power relationships between researchers and young people and how agendas are negotiated in action research. We conclude with some critical reflections on lessons learnt, highlighting the importance of acknowledging the exploratory nature of PAR and the critical role of the researcher as facilitator.

scholarly journals Raising Awareness of Agency to Address Climate Change: The Do One Thing (DOT) Strategy

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Irene Muller ◽  
Lesley Wood
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Environmental Education ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Action Research Approach

The United Nations Children's Fund 2008 report, Our Climate, Our Children, Our Responsibility, warned that children will suffer most from the effects of climate change. Environmental education is one way to prepare children to cope and enable them to educate their families and friends about the need to act now to minimise the danger climate change poses. This article reports on findings from a participatory action research project aimed at integrating education for sustainable development into the Grade 7 curriculum, with a specific focus on climate change. Critical participatory action research has a transformative intent, engaging participants in learning to cultivate a sense of purpose and increase their capacity to solve local problems. Learner responses to qualitative questionnaires and recorded discussions related to the Do One Thing (DOT) strategy were used to determine learning about climate change and enable both learners and community members to identify action for change. Thematic coding was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the DOT strategy in increasing awareness of agency and resultant learning. The findings indicate that not only did the learners gain knowledge about the causes and consequences of climate change but the potential of the learners and community members to identify possible actions for change was increased as well. We provide suggestions as to how teachers can use the DOT strategy as part of an action research approach to integrating environmental education for sustainable development in order to raise awareness of local environmental threats and encourage learners and their families to behave in a more environmentally friendly way. The explanation of the research process offered in this article also highlights how participatory learning activities can help engage learners as active agents in their own learning.

scholarly journals "Everybody knows by hearing but not by seeing": Exploring the use of photovoice to document challenges of some inter-provincial students at the University of Danang, Vietnam

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Duc Tran
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Research Process ◽  
University Administrators ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

<p>This research employed a Participatory Action Research methodology to work with minority inter-provincial students and unearth their lived experiences at the University of Danang in Vietnam. It focused on examining the undervaluation of inter-provincial students’ voices in the university’s policies – and to a wider extent, in most Vietnamese universities – by facilitating a process in which their challenges and ideas for change at university could be heard.  This research also sought to observe and analyse the influences of power dynamics within a Confucian-heritaged context on the participatory research process itself. Vietnam is believed to be a society in which hierarchical power takes its deepest roots due to the effects of Confucianism. By using Participatory Action Research with a variety of methods – photovoice, diagraming, group discussion, interviewing and exhibition – I sought to facilitate student voices and document some of the potential and constraints of the methodology within this cultural context.  The research involved eleven student participants and ten teacher participants over a period of six weeks. Data was collectively analysed and shared by student participants with invited teachers through an exhibition at the University of Danang. Throughout the process, I took extensive field notes of my observations and interactions with participants. Data analysis was then written and presented in this thesis based on what participants had provided. Key themes that this thesis explores are: (1) challenges that faced inter-provincial students, (2) the impact of Confucius hierarchical power on participants’ involvement and ownership in the research and (3) the role of language and emotion when undertaking Participatory Action Research in such a context.  The process generated clear evidence of the common challenges facing interprovincial students associated with limited finances, mentality/spirituality, and poor living conditions. From analysis of these challenges, the research provides recommendations for teachers, university administrators and policy-makers. These recommendations promote a more holistic pedagogy that better encourages students to develop themselves throughout their time at university.  The thesis also concludes that the use of Participatory Action Research within higher education settings in Vietnam can serve as a research model for the betterment of disadvantaged minority students. It could help minimise the effects of neoliberalism on the country’s higher education sector and foster better development outcomes for students and their home provinces.</p>

Inquiry and Participatory Action Research in Primary School

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (1&2) ◽  
pp. 157-205
Author(s):  
Christine McDougall
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Academic Performance ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Sixth Grade ◽  
Educational Objective ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Interest In Science ◽  
Inquiry Group ◽  
Self Confidence

In Jamaica, learner-centered instruction is commended for teaching a curriculum focused on environmental education and sustainable development. This study investigated the potential of participatory action research (PAR) as an inquiry-based instructional method in a sixth-grade Jamaican classroom. Mixed methods compared the academic performance of students between teacher-led and PAR-driven groups, and analyzed key attributes of sustainable development. Though practicing PAR had no significant effect on students’ academic performance, perceived collaboration skills, and interest in science, participants displayed leadership skills, such as self-confidence, commitment, and teambuilding. Moreover, the inquiry group conducted cross-curricular research towards place-based environmental improvement. These assets correspond to the Jamaican educational objective of integrating multiple disciplines and stakeholders in the equation for a sustainable future and warrant a further evaluation of PAR in Jamaican schools.

scholarly journals Collaboration for Improving Social Work Practice: The Promise of Feminist Participatory Action Research

Affilia ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 088610992095442
Author(s):  
Holly Johnson ◽  
Catherine Flynn
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Steering Committee ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Structural Barriers ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Institutional Power

Feminist research and participatory action research (PAR) share the belief that research should directly serve social justice aims and work to alleviate suffering of marginalized and oppressed people. This article presents the results of a unique feminist PAR (FPAR) approach to designing and implementing an evaluation of an intervention with women who have used violence. The site of our analysis is the steering committee that oversaw this work and the extent to which members adhered to FPAR principles. Over the two decades since feminist critiques of PAR began to emerge, new discourses of collaboration have appeared. As researchers, we must be alert to FPAR discourses that mask ongoing hierarchies. Our findings suggest that, while reflexivity and genuine commitment to collaboration are fundamental to enacting FPAR principles, social workers nevertheless face real challenges confronting structural barriers that impede anti-oppression goals. This study highlights the challenges of adhering faithfully to feminist participatory principles in real-life settings and the need for future research to examine the effectiveness of FPAR processes in achieving authentic collaboration among committee members who are chosen to represent disparate perspectives and are backed by vastly different levels of social and institutional power.

scholarly journals "Everybody knows by hearing but not by seeing": Exploring the use of photovoice to document challenges of some inter-provincial students at the University of Danang, Vietnam

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Duc Tran
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Research Process ◽  
University Administrators ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

<p>This research employed a Participatory Action Research methodology to work with minority inter-provincial students and unearth their lived experiences at the University of Danang in Vietnam. It focused on examining the undervaluation of inter-provincial students’ voices in the university’s policies – and to a wider extent, in most Vietnamese universities – by facilitating a process in which their challenges and ideas for change at university could be heard.  This research also sought to observe and analyse the influences of power dynamics within a Confucian-heritaged context on the participatory research process itself. Vietnam is believed to be a society in which hierarchical power takes its deepest roots due to the effects of Confucianism. By using Participatory Action Research with a variety of methods – photovoice, diagraming, group discussion, interviewing and exhibition – I sought to facilitate student voices and document some of the potential and constraints of the methodology within this cultural context.  The research involved eleven student participants and ten teacher participants over a period of six weeks. Data was collectively analysed and shared by student participants with invited teachers through an exhibition at the University of Danang. Throughout the process, I took extensive field notes of my observations and interactions with participants. Data analysis was then written and presented in this thesis based on what participants had provided. Key themes that this thesis explores are: (1) challenges that faced inter-provincial students, (2) the impact of Confucius hierarchical power on participants’ involvement and ownership in the research and (3) the role of language and emotion when undertaking Participatory Action Research in such a context.  The process generated clear evidence of the common challenges facing interprovincial students associated with limited finances, mentality/spirituality, and poor living conditions. From analysis of these challenges, the research provides recommendations for teachers, university administrators and policy-makers. These recommendations promote a more holistic pedagogy that better encourages students to develop themselves throughout their time at university.  The thesis also concludes that the use of Participatory Action Research within higher education settings in Vietnam can serve as a research model for the betterment of disadvantaged minority students. It could help minimise the effects of neoliberalism on the country’s higher education sector and foster better development outcomes for students and their home provinces.</p>

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