Participatory Action Research (P.A.R.) is a blooming educational outreach initiative that is sweeping throughout the United States, gaining well deserved attention as an educational approach to solving social justice issues. Our research team has initiated a study on populations who are more exposed and vulnerable to the effects of particulate matter from diesel exhaust, creating an issue of environmental and social injustice. As inner city children are particularly vulnerable to the negative health effects of diesel exhaust, P.A.R. is the ideal tool to both aid in learning about the multifaceted topic of diesel and its relationship to society, while giving these children an opportunity to conduct their own research and propose solutions to the problem. Our research team has collected and evaluated the important elements of P.A.R. and has incorporated them into an educational program for middle school teachers to utilize. Key elements of this program include journaling, class led discussions, activities to illustrate the overall lesson, group work, and student conducted research. Through this action, the necessary communicatory bond between the humanities and the sciences will be joined in one program to aid individuals who are being directly impacted by an environmental issue, turned social injustice, and will further contribute to the awakening of sustainable practice and the future of green chemistry.  This research was supported by a summer research grant from the BSU Adrian Tinsley Program, and a grant from the EPA P3 program (SU835696).

Bridging the educational divide between diesel use and social justice: A participatory action research approach

251st National Meeting (2016)

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