The Education
and Advocacy Project, a
pilot program of ICR's Youth Action
Research Institute (YARI), seeks to
enhance and improve teaching and
learning through student action research.
The project is being tested in 5th and 6th
grade elementary and middle school
classrooms in four Connecticut school
districts-Hartford, Middletown, New
Haven, and Windham.
With training from ICR staff, including teen researchers,
nine teachers are
integrating student driven action research using
cooperative learning methods into
core curricular activities. The teachers have attended
two training sessions-a week
long summer institute on action research for improvement
of student outcomes and
school reform, and a fall training session on research
methods.
The teachers are now working with their students
on action research projects.
The action research model enables students to take
an active role in designing and
conducting their research as a group. They choose
a research area of importance
to them, the methods they will use to collect the
data, and a vehicle to disseminate
the results.
Staff from the Institute for Community Research
work with the schools,
principals, and teachers to implement the project
in classrooms at Burns
Elementary School, Fair Haven Middle School, Keigwin
Middle School, and
Windham Middle School. The project is funded by
the William M. Graustein
Memorial Fund. |
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| Project
Methods & Goals |
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Train nine teachers
from
four districts in the
action research model
and its interface with
cooperative learning |
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Provide a framework
for
teachers to integrate the
action research model
with an area of the
curriculum of their
choice |
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Provide technical
assistance to teachers
and principals
throughout the school
year |
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Assess the effects
of
action research on
improving student
learning outcomes and
school attachment, and
enhancing teacher
satisfaction |
|
Develop a cross-district
network for research,
support, demonstration,
and information about
the relationship between
action research and
improved student
learning. |
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| Youth
Action Research Institute Programs |
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Summer
Youth Research Institute
Sexual Minority Youth Action Research
Project
Diffusing Youth-Based
PAR for Prevention Model
Education and Advocacy
Project
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Windham Middle School teacher Maribel Cuevas
videotapes Aislynn Garcia playing a guiro, a traditional
Puerto Rican instrument, in a multiple intelligence
activity designed to have students use a variety
of learning styles to explore aspects of their
identity.
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Project
Director
Marlene Berg, M.U.P (ICR)
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Research
Assistants
Federico Cintron (ICR)
Siobhan Pass (ICR)
Trainers
Bonnie Nastasi, Ph.D. (ICR)
Jean J. Schensul, Ph.D. (ICR)
Steven Schensul, Ph.D.
(Center for International
Community Health Studies,
University of Connecticut)
YARI
Teen Researchers:
Felix Reyes
Joseph White
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I am continually amazed by
the insights that those who are directly affected
by the educational process - students and teachers
- have to offer if we only listen. The action
research process values student experience, encourages
their inquiry, and supports young people as they
join together, with support from teachers, to
bring about change. Through this partnership,
teachers are transformed from providers of information
into facilitators of knowledge, youth are empowered,
and new knowledge is created.
Marlene Berg
Associate Director, Training
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