詹妮弗·k·森田著

2024年7月29日

“Boba tea shop,” one kid said.

“A mall,” said another.

“Or,” suggested a fourth-grade girl. “We could keep everything open and put in a mall with a boba shop and playground.”

萨克拉门托 State Psychology students, led by Professor 埃琳·罗斯·埃里森, are working with children at 艾尔德克里克小学 to research ideas for improving Morrison Creek, which runs behind their campus, as part of a community-wide effort to revitalize the neighborhood.

大学生在这个领域获得第一手的经验，观察和收集数据，同时与孩子们接触，培养公民参与，在很小的时候就成为社区的代言人。

“Our students are developing invaluable skills around interacting with youth, developing curriculum and how to do research,” Ellison said. “The children seem to really be enjoying the relationships they’ve built with our students. It’s been a mutually beneficial, exciting thing.”

莫里森河是萨克拉门托河的一条支流，在埃尔德克里克小学后面，穿过埃文代尔格伦埃尔德社区。 这条小溪的大部分都用栅栏围起来了，入口被安全的大门挡住了。 沿河的空地上突然出现了无家可归者的营地，这也成为了一个非法垃圾场。

萨克拉门托社区土地信托、社区领导人和萨克拉门托市一直在制定一项计划，清理溪流，恢复一些自然栖息地，并建立一条行人和自行车道，使其更安全，以供娱乐，将莫里森河变成社区资产。

Ellison and her Psychology students partnered with the 萨克拉门托 Land Trust to work with children in Elder Creek’s afterschool program run by the 萨克拉门托华人社区服务中心.

“We’re trying to incorporate the kids in the decision making to find out what they’d like to see at the creek, where they want to build a bridge or playground, and what they want it to look like,” graduate student Nicole Nasca said.

“It’s to boost civic engagement early on, so they’re more prepared throughout their lives to engage with their own communities when they grow up.”

Engaging participants in research is a way to inform and spur social action with the idea that community members — even children — have valuable expertise and ideas to share, Ellison said.

“It’s a way for us to communicate to them that 囊状态 and college are possible options for them in the future. 他们可以习惯与教授和研究生交谈。” -- 埃琳·罗斯·埃里森, 囊状态 Psychology professor

纳斯卡和她萨克州立大学的同学们首先必须弄清楚如何吸引20多名青少年。 他们很快发现孩子们对写下他们的希望和梦想没有兴趣。

“This is the gift of engaging college students in research in the field,” Ellison said. “Initially, the kids did not want to write stuff on worksheets. They didn’t want to have anything to do with writing because when they get in trouble, they have to write lines.

“But as soon as we gave them cameras, they started taking pictures and writing about the photos.”

So, Ellison’s students developed a curriculum using photography as a way to conduct research.

“It’s a process called PhotoVoice, and it engages them by having them take pictures instead of writing their ideas down,” Nasca said. “Some kids hate writing, and photos are a universal language that allows them to be engaged no matter their reading or writing level.”

Ellison secured grant money, including one from the 斯宾塞的基础 and 大学的链接, to pay for graduate student assistants. An 锚定大学补助金 also covered the cost of digital cameras.

几个星期以来，萨克州立大学的学生每周三下午都会去埃尔德克里克，和孩子们谈论莫里森克里克项目、社区参与以及他们如何为变革发声。

“We got them warmed up by asking if they had a pen pal that lived in another part of the world, what would they want them to know about their neighborhood,” Ellison said. “It’s an entry point to civic engagement at the neighborhood level.”

在一个暴风雨间的春日，埃里森和她的学生们带着孩子们沿着莫里森河散步。

虽然从学校操场上可以看到这条小溪，但大多数学生从来没有到过铁丝网的另一边。

The kids snapped photos of the running water, plants and birds, as well as graffiti and trash, prompted by questions such as “What do you love about the creek?” and “What do you want to change about it?”

他们也满脑子都是关于小溪的深度，水里生活着什么样的鱼，是否有一天他们能在里面游泳。

当他们到达第65街大桥时，他们满脑子都是要在河边的空地上建什么东西，是建一家波波店、购物中心还是公园。

“I think it was really special for them to get out onto the creek because it’s locked away,” Ellison said. “The kids were so excited.”

本科生通过观察和访谈直接学习如何进行民族志研究，而心理学研究生将使用这些数据进行自己的研究，如批判性素养和社区心理学。

抛开学业不谈，萨克州立大学的学生们与埃尔德克里克的小学生们建立了有意义的关系。

“It’s a way for us to communicate to them that 囊状态 and college are possible options for them in the future,” Ellison said. “They can get used to talking with professors and grad students.

“It was so exciting to hear them talk about wanting to go to college. They kept asking me, ‘In 10 years when I go to college, will you still be a professor, Dr. E?’ ”