Facilitating Student Growth as Citizens:
A Developmental Model for Community-Engaged Learning
By Elizabeth Paul, interim provost, the College
of New Jersey
Editor’s note: A longer article about the
use of community-based research at the College of New
Jersey, “Community-Based Research as Scientific
and Civic Pedagogy,” appeared in the Winter 2006
issue of Peer Review.
The Trenton Youth Community–based Research Corps
(TYCRC), a Bonner leader program at the College of New
Jersey, developed out of my interest in deepening undergraduate
students’ understanding of social justice, educating
them for responsible citizenship, and helping them understand
research as a tool for social change. TYCRC engages
students in community-based research (CBR) that helps
nonprofit organizations make a difference in the lives
of children living in poverty. The expectation in CBR
is that all partners are both teachers and learners,
working side by side to effect social change.
Initially, TYCRC was a one-semester course in community-based
methods in which students completed a small demonstration
research project. This was a familiar pedagogical model
that comfortably allowed me to experiment with engaging
undergraduates in CBR. However, I quickly felt the frustrations
of compressing an important developmental process into
an unreasonably short window of time. CBR involves more
than just learning about research methods, and it requires
more than the artificial constraint of one semester.
Additional developmental goals include catalyzing and
supporting students’ deepening cultural and social
awareness, as well as developing their identity and
sense of efficacy as citizens.
TYCRC is now a three-semester program. Students first
enroll in a course entitled Downtown: Inner-City Youth
and Families, which was developed out of my struggle
to jumpstart the developmental process necessary to
prepare students to engage in an intensive CBR partnership.
This course involves participation in a community-based
citizen advocacy course as part of a campus-based course.
Through visits to community agencies and neighborhoods,
the course provides initial exposure to inner-city social
and economic realities and introduces students to the
mission and strategies of human services organizations
that serve inner-city youth and families.
The Downtown course builds student familiarity with
and care for the community and its citizens, fueling
students’ respect for social service agencies
as well as their motivation to join in the effort to
make a difference. Students are then poised to begin
a yearlong CBR partnership in which they accomplish
major research projects with and on behalf of their
community partners.
The second and third semester courses engage the students
in deeper learning and identity development, particularly
around the interwoven identities of partner, citizen,
and public scholar. The partner identity involves developing
independence, personal responsibility, and individual
efficacy within the context of positive interrelationships.
Between the second and third semesters, students often
experience a turning point when they begin to comfortably
participate as full and responsible partners in the
project.
Students learn that in order to be an effective citizen,
you must also be an effective partner. In developing
their citizen identity, students combine the skills
they developed as partners with an increasing awareness
of social issues and context. They learn together with
community members how to be effective in a particular
context and, in the process, develop a deep commitment
to and concern for the communities in which they are
working.
Developing into a public scholar involves growing both
as a partner and a citizen. It provides students with
an opportunity to pull from their professional identity
and skills to enhance their contributions to a community,
while at the same time learning and deepening their
research skills. They learn that research can be an
effective tool for community engagement. The identity
of public scholar addresses the intersection of research
and active citizenship, wherein research is recognized
as one of many tools for contributing to social justice
and engaging with a community. When given space to develop
personally and intellectually, students can move from
being distant outsiders to engaged, compassionate, and
effective citizens.
