Challenging Adult Perspectives on Children's Geographies through Participatory Research Methods: Insights from a Service-Learning Course

Abstract

In this paper, the author adopts the notion that working with children in some ways highlights the challenges of university-level pedagogy and research ethics; this is done by evaluating a service-learning course she conducted with undergraduate and graduate students that was based on children's urban geographies. In the course of this examination, she considers ways that aiming towards child-led, participatory approaches created several practical and ethical dilemmas but also stimulated critical reflection on positionality in research and teaching. A set of suggestions is offered for working with children in participatory qualitative research projects that emerged from insights gained in this endeavor, and the author also confronts a set of six attitudes she and her students had to engage with in order to move toward a less essentializing and more critically rigorous participatory research practice.

Keywords:

• Children's geographies
• service learning
• participatory research methods

Acknowledgements

The author gratefully acknowledges the support for the Children's Urban Geographies project from the National Science Foundation, Grant #BCS 99-84876 and the State University of New York – University at Buffalo. For their dedication, skill, and good humor on this project I am indebted to graduate researchers Jin-Kyu Jung, Jennifer Halfhill, Frank Latcham, Joanna Rogalski, and LaDona Knigge and the other student members of the Children's Urban Geographies project. Special thanks to Caitlin Cahill and Cindi Katz for their expert shepherding in this project and to Sara Kindon and anonymous reviewers for insightful comments and suggestions.

Notes

¹ While we rarely saw these being actively taught, the names of the programmes were painted on the walls and various posters around the room touted the goals and benefits of each of them.