Making Critical Participatory Action Research for All
Envisioning Restorative Spaces: Opportunities and Challenges in the Process Room
Qualitative Art Activity
Qualitative Art Activity
Qualitative Art Activity
About the Project
Through the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the by heart collective partnered with an alternative therapeutic school for grades 6-12 in the Boston area, to co-facilitate the year-long Student Equity Action Team elective, guiding students through a youth-led research project on a self-identified equity issue within their school.
CPAR is a framework for youth and adults to speak up about problems in their lives, research those problems together, and take action to make things fairer. It comes from the radical idea that “nothing about us, without us, is for us.” Over the course of one academic year, we collaborated with five youth researchers and a staff member.
Our project investigated how students and staff at the school experience the process room, a space for student reflection and emotional regulation, and how it might better support the school’s mission. Research methods included surveys for students and staff, student-led interviews of staff, and an art activity focus group. We presented our findings to students and staff throughout the school year, and at a celebratory convening at HGSE in May 2025, with over 10 other YPAR groups in the Boston area.
You can read our co-designed zine about the project here.