Drawing inspiration from Dr. Ada Long's (1995) presidential address, the authors describe an experience that facilitates neighborhood-building among honors educators and students across the nation as well as a neighborhood approach to understanding social problems. Focusing on food justice in the first year of the Justice Challenge, honors…

The aim of this paper is to explore high school students' critical consciousness development in the context of youth participatory action research (YPAR) focused on food security at an alternative school in Alabama. The YPAR project took place in an elective agriscience class with 10 students (Seven Black, two white, one Latino) who were in the…

A theoretical framework grounded in constructionism and pragmatism theories supported research on learning by doing. This framework underpinned the purpose of this qualitative case study to explore how K-8 STEM teachers facilitated projects utilizing innovative technologies to solve community-based problems. The problem was a lack of connection…

Embedded within ongoing university-community partnerships, participatory action research experiences for undergraduates -- or PAR-based UREs -- are multi-disciplinary, action-oriented research opportunities that engage undergraduates in collaborative research to address community-defined challenges. PAR-based UREs integrate participatory action…

Our population is aging, calling for communities to be more age friendly and younger individuals to be more aware of aging issues that will impact their personal and professional lives. However, colleges provide few opportunities for students to prepare themselves for a more age-diverse world. Drawing on a new general education core curriculum…

New Hampshire is a place of both traditions and contradictions. Though historically New Hampshire's demographics have been primarily white, the state is becoming increasingly diverse with respect to racial and ethnic identities. There are communities with significant wealth adjacent to towns with widespread poverty and devastating rates of…

Teaching leadership skills is an important goal for many schools, both within the curriculum and beyond it. The traditional definition of a leader has been based on a hierarchy, with levels, a chain of command, and a "top dog." Yet other definitions exist, and for girls and women a redefined view incorporates an alternative concept of…

Background: According to a growing body of research, many Latinas/os experience dissonance between their everyday cultural practices and the cultural practices prevalent in engineering. This dissonance contributes to many Latinas/os' sense that engineering is "not for me." Purpose: This study sought to explore the meaning in the…

Youth involved in 4-H projects have been engaged in science-related endeavors for years. Since 2006, 4-H has invested considerable resources in the advancement of science learning. The new Minnesota 4-H Science of Agriculture Challenge program challenges 4-H youth to work together to identify agriculture-related issues in their communities and to…

Community change approaches have increasingly involved participatory practices in which community members directly impacted by an issue participate in implementing change efforts. However, community participation as a practice and approach does not always include youth participation. Within the field of youth organizing, young people are…