AUTHOR=Nordstrom Karen L. , Horner Catherine E. , Méndez V. Ernesto , Izzo Victor , Carpenter Nell , Faulkner Joshua W. , Caswell Martha TITLE=An Undergraduate Agroecology Research Fellows Program Engages Co-learning Through Participatory Action Research JOURNAL=Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems VOLUME=5 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-food-systems/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2021.760995 DOI=10.3389/fsufs.2021.760995 ISSN=2571-581X ABSTRACT=
This paper addresses the role of an Undergraduate Agroecology Research Fellows Program (UARFP) toward a more critical and equity-oriented agroecology pedagogy. As a model rooted in action, Undergraduate Agroecology Research Fellows (UARF) become members of the Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC) Community of Practice (CoP), at the University of Vermont; a transdisciplinary research and education group that engages in community-based participatory action research (PAR). Through this model, UARFs support undergraduate student engagement in an advanced agroecology course, through which a PAR process centered on soil health takes place with regional farms. This triangulated learning format involves in-class and on-farm lab work, alongside the embedded UARF enrichment program, through which agroecological principles are examined via inter- and transdisciplinary educational lenses.