Many Ethnic Studies curricula culminate with a final unit in which students pull together the skills and knowledge they've developed over the course in order to investigate and take action on an issue that matters to them. These units often take the shape of Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR). YPAR embodies many principles of Ethnic Studies teaching by affirming students' experiences and intellectual capacities, providing students with agency and voice, engaging with community as curriculum, and challenging dominant structures toward a more just world. Within YPAR, students undertake the following:
Identifying an issue that matters to them and building background knowledge about why the issue exists as it does, what work is currently happening to address the issue, and how they might personally get involved
Taking systematic action to address the issue, either individually, as a small group with peers, or within an existing community organization/movement
Documenting their experiences and observations during the period of intervention to learn about how the issue evolves AND what they learn through the process
Sharing their findings with peers, community, policymakers, or other audiences
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