April 2024
For a second consecutive year, competitively selected teams of high school students attended the AERA Annual Meeting to participate in the Youth Teams in Education Research Program (YTER). This year 11 teams comprised of 61 students joined Annual Meeting attendees in Philadelphia to participate in a mini-workshop and present their research in a featured session.
The YTER Program attracted scores of applications from teams of high school students around the globe, who are conducting research on important topics in education. The 2024 YTER Program included participants from throughout the U.S. and as far away as Cyprus.
Participants have a unique opportunity to learn more about the field and to engage with outstanding education researchers across career stages. These students are conducting research in teams led by AERA members who are situated in universities, high schools, community organizations, and research institutes. The program, now in the second year of a two-year pilot, reflects AERA’s continuing commitment to engagement with high school youth. It is designed to support and enhance their interest in education research and to showcase their current work.
As a component of an expanded program of activities in Philadelphia, YTER participants took part in workshop sessions that featured presentations, panel discussions, and informal conversations with AERA leaders and leading scholars in the field. This year, the program also included team Ed-Talks. The five-minute Ed-Talks offered each team a chance to share their work with their peers through short and engaging presentations, providing a space for dynamic discussion and supportive feedback among the youth researchers.
Participants also presented their research in a featured poster session on April 12. The poster session is a centerpiece of the YTER program, providing a space for teams to discuss their research with a broad audience. Team projects focused on a wide range of topics and included research that amplified youth and community voices for change and critically examined questions related to literacy, culture, inclusion, safety, and the potential of artificial intelligence in education. YTER projects also tackled subjects such as text-book bias, innovative professional development strategies for teachers, and the relevance of arts-based research for educational transformations. YTER presentations are available in in the AERA i-Presentation Gallery.
AERA is evaluating the YTER pilot and will announce future plans for the initiative by early September. For more information, contact edresearch@aera.net.
2024 Youth Teams in Education Research Program Participants
CARE Initiative Team Leaders: Gerald Campano (University of Pennsylvania) and Maria Paula Ghiso (Teachers College, Columbia University) Project Title: Examining and Transforming Education through Critical Arts-Based Research Youth Researchers: Summer Sykes, Andrea Jasmine Lie, Sophia Lauwidjaja & Faustine Gultom
SEEJuSt Team Leaders: Hosun Kang, Nelly Tsai and Doron Zinger (University of California, Irvine) Project Title: Amplifying the Voices of Youth to Improve School Lunch and Mitigate Climate Crisis Youth Researchers: Jasmine Chee, Ethan Lin, Abdirahman Abdulahi, Mahba Ahmad, Cody Shiang, Kira Matsuoka & Sophi Tong
Asian American Students Disrupting Truth (AASDT) Team Leader: Eun Bee Ellin Kim (Teachers College, Columbia University) Project Title: Disrupting Monoculturalism in U.S. School Curricula Youth Researchers: Catherine Lee, Edeline Jung, Ethan Yeung, Isaiah Lee & Caryn Seulah Cho
Dialogical Pedagogy Team Leader: Grace Leu (Peru State College) Project Title: The Power of Inclusivity: Black and Brown Youth Creating Vibrant Communities Through Class Discussions Youth Researchers: Isabella Andino, Kay Castillo, Justin Lopez, Javier Nunez, Sarai Roca, Dayra Sanchez & Jose Soso-Dolmo (New Visions Charter High School for the Humanities II)
Caminos de Bilingüismo Team Leaders: Laura Meinzen, Deborah Palmer (University of Colorado, Boulder) and Michelle Valladares (National Education Policy Center) Project Title: Caminos de Bilingüismo: Co-designing and co-conducting research on high school biliteracy pathways Youth Researchers: Yadira Campos Lopez, Hamilton Dunn, Reese Furman, Vida Loeb, Damian Luna, Patrick Martin, Grayson Tate & Lilli Thoresen
The Youth Research Council Bethany Monea (University of District of Columbia) & Meagan Call-Cummings (John Hopkins University) Project Title: What Makes Students Fell Un/Safe in Northern Virginia Public High Schools? Youth Researchers: Ruth Abebe, Duchmaa Ariunbold, Tsion Deressa, Emily Ta, LemLem Lemma, Gilden Atongazi & Ziyad Sankoh
NextGen AI-ers Team Leaders: Elena Papanastasiou & Agni Stylianou-Georgiou (University of Nicosia) Project Title: It’s about time! Transforming our learning through AI: An intersection of diverse perspectives on the future of education Youth Researchers: Georgios Georgiou, Constantinos Smyrillis, Christos Loannou, Despoina Georgiou & Cleo Smyrilli
Global Inclusion Alliance Team Leader: Amy Pozza (Saint Mary’s Hall) Project Title: A Call for Alternative Perspectives in the Classroom: the Indian American Experience of Learning about Caste and Colonialism in High School Youth Researchers: Rusham Goyal & Amruta PatelProject Title: Code and decode: a computational model of colonial language bias in high school world history textbooks Youth Researchers: Helen Trottmann & Sohan Bhakta
Manual High School SVL Team Team Leader: Beatriz Salazar (University of Colorado, Boulder) Project Title: Creating a Professional Development Unit for High School Teachers Through YPAR Youth Researchers: Amorina Slaton, Iyari Hernandez-Bartolo, Nevaeh Walker, Mabel Martinez-Hernandez, Kaelie Cazares, Indigo Smith, Flor Hernandez-Velasco & Abraham Munoz
Columbia Heights Educational Campus Food Equity Team Team Leader: Dara Shaw (DC Urban Institute) Project Title: The Journey to Student Voice at a DC High School: Empowering Students (and Improving Schools) through Student-Led Research Youth Researchers: Ydidiya Nadew, Gisselle Lainez, Issa Batista, Jasmin Ramirez (Columbia Heights Education Campus)
Center for Youth Equity Team Leaders: Rae Stevenson and Micaiah Lugo (Tulane University) Project Title: "Twisted Garden": Cultivating Change in the New Orleans Education Landscape Youth Researchers: Shine Holmes, Tia Augustin & Jonta Gumms Project Title: Unearthing Root Causes: Youth Perspectives on Violence in New Orleans Youth Researcher: Amil Risin