Laura Ruth Johnson’s search for local knowledge from the direct source – the people who live those realities and the grassroots organizations they populate – has taken her from Chicago to Puerto Rico to Taiwan and beyond.
Johnson’s community-based research serves to address and positively impact specific issues and problems in diverse contexts.
In Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, for example, she has spent more than two decades exploring and illuminating the experiences and beliefs of Latina adolescent mothers, mentorship and school-based support programs for young mothers and youth civic engagement within minoritized communities.
The associate professor in the Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment now has discussed her work on a newly posted podcast hosted by the Service-learning and Experiential Education Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association (AERA).
“Dr. Johnson is 100% a FORCE FOR GOOD and this episode is well worth the listen!” according to the group. “Tune in and prepare to send Laura some virtual high-fives … for her and for the contributions she’s making to the field.”
AERA-SLEE is dedicated to bringing together researchers, practitioners, and community partners to build and promote understanding and practice of service-learning and experiential education for the betterment of the field and the reform of K-20 education in the United States and abroad.
