Session Information
05 ONLINE 00 PS, General Poster Session (online) - NW 05
General Poster Session
Contribution
The poster will engage with the research question: How can active learning methods in hybrid research environments be used to understand adolescent experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic? by building on findings from a participatory action research project with fourteen adolescent young people in a high-school in a socio-economically disadvantaged urban setting in Romania.
In a first step, the poster will present the multidirectional active learning (Wright, 2015) process that took place as part of the project through presenting how learning has occurred as part of the PESSCA (Promoting Equity and Wellbeing through Action Research in Schools in Disadvantaged Communities, funded by the Faculty of Sociology and Psychology of the West University of Timișoara) project. The different directions along which learning has occurred will be discussed: (1) between researchers and research participants and (2) collectively among research participants. In a second step, we will reflect on how partnerships between university based researchers and young people in socio-economically marginalized communities can contribute to social justice and social transformation by engaging with research on Youth-led participatory action research (Ozer,2017; Ozer & Douglas, 2015; Ozer & Piatt, 2017; Ozer et al 2013). Specifically, we will engage with the particularities of the present research context characterized by an ethical imperative to conduct research with marginalized youth in order for their voices not be silenced in the present context (Liegghio & Caragata, 2021), as well as the necessity to conduct research and meetings safely and effectively by using a variety of interactive formats.
In a European comparison, schools in Romania have been closed for face-to-face education for a very significant amount of time (UNESCO 2021). Thus, the impact on the everyday lives of young people in high-school has been significant, leading to reconfigurations of their social relations and experiences.
Active learning methods (Wright, 2015; for specific methodologies see also Wang & Burris, 1997; Liegghio & Caragata, 2021 and Boal 2008 , Wrentschur, 2008) have been developed in a Freirean action research tradition building on the ideas set out in Paulo Freire’s seminal work Pedagogy of the Oppressed (see Freire, 2018). Yet, despite the common social justice oriented theoretical and practical tradition, these methods (forum theatre, photovoice, collective discussions oriented towards transformation and collective biographies) are rarely used together as an assemble of visual and experiential methods for active learning and action research. In this poster, we want to explore how the relationship between research and active learning plays out in the particular context of looking at how the Covid-19 pandemic has shaped the experiences of young people in socio-economically disadvantaged regions and how collective reflection on these topics can transforms young people’s potential for action in and beyond school. Moreover, we will pay special attention to the ways in which different methodologies allowed both participating and researchers to reflect on the present context from different, complementary and even competing angles and to transform their own personal and individual fragmented experiential (or in the case of researchers theoretical) knowledge into collective and comprehensive knowledge encouraging individual and collective action. Furthermore, we will zoom in on the present context in action research by looking at the ways in which alternating between face-to-face and digital environments has shaped the learning and research process. We will stress the specific difficulties of ensuring a predictable and plannable temporality of meetings that would alternate between various interactive formats in a productive way. Thus, we will contribute to exploring comprehensive methodologies for active learning and research in practices, as well as to documenting the challenges of conducting ethical and safe hybrid action research with marginalized youth in the present context.
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Method
The present poster builds on data collected during both the face-to-face (kick-off) phase of the active learning and youth-led participatory action research, as well as the online follow-up phase. The kick-off seminar of the PESSCA project took place in early fall 2021 and was designed to involve 14 female and male adolescents as research participants. They were invited to actively document and reflect upon their experiences throughout the Covid-19 pandemic through the lens of participatory methods with a special focus on issues of equity and wellbeing. Female and male adolescent (aged 15-18) high-school students signed up voluntarily to participate in the hybrid project. Informed consent was obtained from the minor participants’ legal guardians and from legal age participants for participating in the research. Assent for participating in the research project was obtained from all participants. During the kick-off seminar a series of workshops that are relevant to the research question were carried out: (1) a photovoice workshop (Wang & Burris, 1997) in which young people documented visually and presented their experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic from the perspective of their sense of wellbeing; (2) a collective biography focus group that included the 14 participants AND a set of 4 focus groups with 4-5 participants about their personal experiences during the pandemic and (3) a forum theatre workshop in which young people could explore issues connected to equity during the pandemic (Boal, 2008; Wrentschur, 2008). Moreover, (4) daily feedback sessions documenting participants learning were carried out either in written form or verbally (and recorded) which we will analyze to document the learning process. Finally, (5) written and recorded oral reflections by the researchers involved in facilitating online interactions with the adolescent participants as part of the action researcher project will also be incorporated into the present analysis. Points (1)- (3) allow the researchers an overview of how different methods help construct and explore personal experiences and narratives from different angles and contribute to constructing the common knowledge base in a differentiated and sophisticated way by building on visual, experiential and narrative forms of data. Points (4)-(5) are indicative of the ways in which this learning and knowledge production process occurred, what potentialities it holds for different contexts and which challenges were encountered. Currently, we are in the process of processing and analyzing data, so that the presented conclusions are preliminary.
Expected Outcomes
As our analysis of project data is still ongoing, we will only formulate preliminary conclusions. The learning process has been multidirectional one. The kick-off phase created the possibility for authentic communication and interaction to occur between research participants, as well as between the researchers and research participants. The face-to-face design of activities introduced active learning methods that heavily involved the body and experiential learning (such as forum theater), as well as visual data that allowed an immersive perspective into the everyday lives of young people. Adolescents shared their struggles and coping mechanisms for maintaining a socially active life (such as video-conferencing, as well as meeting in ‘hidden’ outdoor spaces, etc.) and a sense of wellbeing by building meaningful relations of care with domestic animals or by retreating to the countryside with their families, where they had access to green spaces or finding hidden places where to practice sports in their urban surroundings. This opened up the possibility to reflect on issues both collectively and individually that normally were not perceived as important and to think about how change could be possible. The collective exchange allowed the young people to re-evaluate their relations within the group, breaking the stereotypes they had of each other. Furthermore, the researchers had the opportunity to learn about adolescents’ experiences of isolation, loneliness and disconnection. The pandemic emerged as a time of re-evaluating social relations within one’s own household, as well as of subversive struggles for appropriating public outdoor spaces and for nurturing social connections. Finally, interventions to follow-up the transformative learning process were not as successful as the initial learning encounter due mainly to the unpredictability of interaction environments in the present public health crisis. Research and action plans changed in relation to shifting configurations of on- and offline interactions leading to frustration and disengagement.
References
Boal, Augusto (2008) Theatre of the Oppressed (trans. E. Fryer), London: Pluto Press. Freire, P. (2018). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Bloomsbury publishing USA. Ozer, E. J. (2017). Youth‐led participatory action research: Overview and potential for enhancing adolescent development. Child Development Perspectives, 11(3), 173-177. Ozer, E. J., & Douglas, L. (2015). Assessing the key processes of youth-led participatory research: Psychometric analysis and application of an observational rating scale. Youth & Society, 47(1), 29-50. Ozer, E. J., & Piatt, A. A. (2017). Adolescent Participation in Research: Innovation, rationale and next steps. Florence, Italy: UNICEF Innocenti Office of Research. Ozer, E. J., Afifi, R., Gibbs, L., & Mathur, R. T. (2018). Youth Engagement and Participation: Field-Building Across Research and Practice. Journal of Adolescent Health, 63(6), 671-672. Ozer, E. J., Newlan, S., Douglas, L., & Hubbard, E. (2013). “Bounded” empowerment: Analyzing tensions in the practice of youth-led participatory research in urban public schools. American Journal of Community Psychology, 52(1-2), 13-26. UNESCO. 2021. Covid-19 Education Response: Country Dashboard Romania, available http://covid19.uis.unesco.org/global-monitoring-school-closures-covid19/country-dashboard/ Wang, C., & Burris, M. A. (1997). Photovoice: Concept, methodology, and use for participatory needs assessment. Health education & behavior, 24(3), 369-387. Wrentschur, Michael (2008). Forum Theatre as a Participatory Tool for Social Research and Development: A Reflection on ‘Nobody is perfect’—A Project with Homeless People. In Pat Cox, Thomas Geisen, Roger Green (eds.) Qualitative research and social change , London, 94-111 Wright, D. E. (2015). Active learning: Social justice education and participatory action research. Routledge.
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