Clairemont, Hoover, and Serra High School students and teachers presented their class’s participatory action research projects to a panel of judges at Clairemont High School for their Civics Day Exhibition, December 19, 2018. With their teachers’ coaching and support, students tackled the following community issues:
*Teen vaping
*Asylum seekers
*Police brutality
*Gun control
*Homelessness in the community
*Strengthening programs for the homeless
*Teen suicide prevention
*Child abuse and neglect
*Electric scooters cluttering
San Diego Students were asked to identify an issue in their community that concerned their class. They also needed to research the root causes of the issue, collaborate with their classmates and the local community, take informed action, and analyze their own impact effectiveness. Student action varied from interviewing community members, to conducting surveys, writing letters to local leaders and businesses, creating videos and other media, etc. For Civics Day, each class organized all of their work on a tri-fold poster and chose student representatives to present to community judges on Civics Day. Judges included business people in the community, local leaders such as board members, district personnel, authors, museum curators, and more. Students were able to present out and reflect on what they did well, what they would change, and next steps. Civics Day is a demonstration of civic learning and action that all people can take to be civically engaged. Many people consider elections to be a mainstay for engaging citizens in our democracy. However, participatory action research programs such as Generation Citizen <generationcitizen.org>, the program used by these sites, demonstrate how civic engagement is for all people. Students saw the impact that they can have when they put the time and research into a relevant issue.
Many students expressed their desire to take this work beyond their Civics Day exhibition. Many thanks to Generation Citizen and the community members and judges who donated their time to help the students with their participatory action research projects. And a special “thank you” to the dedicated teachers who brought this program to their students: Sharon Apple, Kacey Caputo, Toya Profit, Hank Yamfang, Brenna Drumm, and visiting teacher Newlyn Clark. This was a true demonstration of civic learning at San Diego Unified School District.
Many students expressed their desire to take this work beyond their Civics Day exhibition. Many thanks to Generation Citizen and the community members and judges who donated their time to help the students with their participatory action research projects. And a special “thank you” to the dedicated teachers who brought this program to their students: Sharon Apple, Kacey Caputo, Toya Profit, Hank Yamfang, Brenna Drumm, and visiting teacher Newlyn Clark. This was a true demonstration of civic learning at San Diego Unified School District.
