For nearly four years, the Program for Research on Youth Development and Engagement (PRYDE) has introduced youth in New York State 4-H to the research process with a curriculum called “Youth Investigators.” This past fall, PRYDE presented the curriculum to students at Rochester Prep High School, the first time the curriculum was presented in a school setting.

“We had always wanted to attach 4-H programming to our schools but didn’t really know how. After talking with (PRYDE Director) Tony Burrow about Youth Investigators, we knew that program would be something that would enrich our students’ experience,” said Lisa Krempa, senior director of student support services for Uncommon Schools, a non-profit that manages over 50 charter schools in New Jersey, Massachusetts and New York, including Rochester Prep. A charter school is a publicly funded school that is run independently of a school district and must meet a certain set of academic, operational and financial standards.

Rochester Prep offers the Advanced Placement (AP) Capstone Diploma Program, a two-year program that prepares students for their higher education journey. In the first year, juniors take a course called AP Seminar, which teaches the building blocks of research in preparation for a class taken as seniors called AP Research, where students conduct a year-long research project using the skills learned during the aforementioned seminar. The Youth Investigators curriculum, which teaches research skills including data interpretation, generating hypotheses, proper interviewing techniques, data analysis and research ethics, was folded into the AP Seminar course.

“The learning objectives in Youth Investigators are so closely aligned with the coursework that they’re in right now,” said Kristen Elmore, associate director of PRYDE.

“Youth Investigators is helping the students absorb and enrich the content in class, especially because it’s a different model,” Krempa said.

The Youth Investigators curriculum is taught by PRYDE Scholars, a cohort of College of Human Ecology students interested in researching youth development and applying the research to address real-world concerns.

“When our students learn from their teachers, obviously there’s a connection there, a clear teacher-to-student experience,” Krempa said. “But working with college students, that feels different. You’re learning the lessons and the experience of those college students. That social enrichment is really powerful because these students will be college students in a year or two.”

Normally, the program is taught in person over the course of a few days but teaching the program to students two hours away while classes are in session for the PRYDE Scholars meant a change in approach. PRYDE Scholars kicked off the program by teaching the first module in person before teaching the other four modules online.

“It really did require creativity on the part of our students as facilitators,” said Elmore. “Students were on individual laptops even though they were in the same classroom. That setup was a learning experience for us because each student is engaged individually, and we still had to figure out the best way to do activities that take advantage of everyone being in the same classroom.”

The Rochester Prep students will use the skills learned in the Youth Investigators program to perform an analysis of police reform in their communities. Esther Kim, PRYDE program assistant, says some of the PRYDE Scholars may serve as research advisors for the students.

“We would love for the PRYDE Scholars to continue to provide support for the learning the students are doing in AP Seminar,” said Kim.

The Youth Investigators curriculum was developed with funds from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture which supports research and extension activities at land-grant institutions.