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Kids (and Adults) Say (and do) the Darndest Things!

Kurt Clausen

Child Participatory Action Research as a Failed Emancipatory Project

Julie Garlen, Sarah Hembruff and Evie Johnny Ruddy
In this article, we discuss the results of our efforts to collaboratively engage in participatory action research with children ages 10-11. Despite our best efforts to be intentional about breaking down the adult-child binary to create space for the child participants to act as co-researchers, in reflecting on the results of the project, we ultimately determined we did not achieve our intended emancipatory aim. Here, we describe the lessons we took away from this project and how they might inform future practices for working with children, as researchers, teachers, and advocates.

Enlighten…Camera…Action…Apply! Using Participatory Pedagogies to Promote Student Experiences of Social Emotional Learning in Physical Education

Donal Howley, Ben Dyson, Seunghyun Baek, Judy Fowler and Yanhua Shen
The purpose of this study was to explore secondary/high school students’ enactment of participatory pedagogies promoting experiences and understandings of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in Physical Education. Forty-two ninth and tenth grade students (30 female, 12 male) aged 14–16 participated in data collection, with inductive and deductive data analysis applied. Utilizing participatory pedagogies and action research led to an explicit and intentional focus on SEL that enhanced students’ understanding and appreciation as to how emotions, behaviors, social roles, and responsibilities influenced their participation in physical activity within and beyond physical education settings. The promotion of SEL competencies and skills in physical education through action research and participatory pedagogies that align with a contemporary framework can support secondary/high school students in attaining knowledge, skills, and attitudes for pursuing a physically active lifestyle and a lifetime of autonomous wellbeing.

Developing Second Language Proficiency in the Context of Plurilingual Education: An Action Research Study in a Model Primary School in Rwanda

Christopher Mutseekwa
This article recounts the researcher's experiences with two specialist English teachers at a model school in Rwanda, navigating how English as a Second Language can be taught using a variety of pedagogical strategies. Following Participatory Action Research (PAR), the study documents how Primary 4 (P4) and Primary 6 (P6) learners and their teachers actively construct the discourse for L2 learning. The engagements between the researcher and participating teachers are interpreted through the lens of the socio-cognitive theory for second language learning and plurilingual education. Multi-layered levels of data analysis occur simultaneously with data collection throughout the stages of the PAR. Findings reveal challenges that impede L2 development, including limited vocabulary, inadequate time for practicing the target language, and difficulties constructing extended responses. Findings also reveal useful approaches for developing L2 proficiency, including teaching receptive and productive skills sequentially, modelling and demonstrating the target language, and engaging in translanguaging. We conclude that in contexts similar to this study where learners are struggling with L2, mother tongue can be used as an additional language resource through plurilingual pedagogies.

Leveraging Youth Engagement for Mental Health Decision-Making: Lessons for Workplace Health Promotion

Jillian Stringer, Braeden Levac, Katelyn Greer, Stacie Smith, Ervis Musa, Briana Comeau, Sam Osman, Kylie Johnston, Chelsea Wong, Reeti Chopra and Fatemeh Matin Moradkhan
This study explores the use and organizational impact of youth engagement practices within the public Youth Mental Health and Substance Use (YMHSU) sector. This study used a youth participatory action approach, co-led and co-authored by youth researchers, to interview representatives from seven Canadian YMHSU organizations through a social constructivist lens. Transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis and synthesized by a national youth research team. Respondents articulated that meaningful youth engagement necessitates a foundational organizational commitment, the creation of safe and inclusive spaces, the nurturing of authentic relationships, and the provision of diverse opportunities tailored to resonate with the unique needs and perspectives of youth participants. These practices supported organizational innovation, recruitment, retention, goal attainment, and sustainability. Participants shared success stories that illustrated the transformative impact of engagement practices within their organizations. This study highlights the organizational benefits and critical success factors for effective youth engagement in mental health decision-making and leverages a youth-centered approach to do so. Youth engagement strategies have the potential to yield significant benefits when implemented with a focus on safety and equity. We propose these strategies can and should be leveraged widely across fields to support organizational effectiveness, workplace mental health promotion, and service delivery.

Community Steered Research: A Conceptual Model for Tackling Power Symmetries, Cognitive Justice, and Integrated Knowledge in Research

Fatemeh Kazemi, Odessa Gonzalez Benson, Nicolás Juárez and Katerina Palova
The prominence of community-based research is growing, driven by its commitment to a social justice, diversity, and equity approach. However, challenges persist in actualizing the transformative potential and the promise of community-based research approaches, as community-academic partnerships are strained by structural issues such as funding mechanisms, power dynamics, and diverging priorities and temporalities. This paper proposes Community Steered Research and offers a novel conceptual model on the research process to address these issues, drawing from the experience of conducting research in the Canadian immigrant-serving settlement sector. The model flips the academic-community hierarchy, proposing that research be initiated and steered by the community, rather than the university. This model argues that embeddedness, relationality, and dynamism are essential to what is commonly termed ‘community-based’ research, if it is to move towards meaningful application and its transformative aims.

Learning from Experiences of 10 Canadian Living Labs

Eric Racine, Bénédicte D’Anjou, Geneviève Baril, Christiane Bergeron-Leclerc, Nathalie Bier, Katie Davey, Audrey Demars, Najmeh Khalili-Mahani, Isabelle Marchand and Jean-François Lévesque
Living labs have been deployed in numerous settings including agriculture, public services, urban planning, and technology development. Despite significant conceptual developments in living lab theory and methodology, there remain significant gaps in the sharing of concrete experiences alongside challenges faced by developers and users of living labs in specific political and social contexts. To address such gaps, we embarked as a collective of living labs on a knowledge co-development process based on actual experiences of developing and operating 10 active Canadian living labs. In this paper, we report and discuss common advantages, challenges, and lessons learned through our experiences.

Lê, K. T. (2025). Teaching climate change for grades 6-12: Activating science teachers to take on the climate crisis through NGSS (2nd ed.). Routledge

Marleine Gélineau

Jaffer, T., & Mouallem, O. (Eds.). (2024). Back where I came from: On culture, identity, and home. Book Hug Press

Michelle D. Graham

Koerber, A., Starkey, J. C., Ardon-Dryer, K., Cummins, R. G., Eko, L., & Kee, K. F. (2023). The predatory paradox: Ethics, politics, and practices in contemporary scholarly publishing. Open Book Publishers

Robyn Herman-Woltz

Glenn, M., Sullivan, B., Roche, M., & McDonagh, C. (2023). Action research for the classroom: A guide to values-based research in practice. Routledge

Joel Judd

Bell, E., Bryman, A., Kleinknecht, S. (Eds.). (2023). Social research methods (6th Canadian ed.). Oxford University Press

Jennifer Thompson