Date of Award

Summer 2025

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

Educational Studies

First Advisor

Elizabeth Currin

Abstract

Sensing my high school students’ apathy toward civic engagement, I used a community of inquiry framework to address this problem of practice. Through mixed-methods action research, I explored participants’ perspectives on community, civic engagement, and their involvement in both spheres. A community of inquiry framework was the foundation for my research questions, and as I collected data, I launched an intervention based upon my findings. Although the results of this study were not statistically significant and are not generalizable, I collected a wealth of survey, interview, and reflection data from 48 students across two classes. Analysis grounded in my observations as their teacher revealed some surprising patterns and important nuances that may be of interest to fellow educators. Illustrating the reflective, transformative nature of action research, the results caused me to question whether my students are indeed apathetic, or if, due to the demands they face as young people today, they are actually lacking agency. This study concludes with recommendations based on those insights.

Rights

© 2025, Regina Dilley

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