International Innovative Methods for Engaging Young Children in Research

A framework of six steps for engaging young children in research is presented in this chapter. This framework was built through collaboration with a team of international researchers funded by the Bernard van Leer Foundation (Johnson, Hart, & Colwell, 2014a and b). Relevant literature and theoretical underpinning is presented with discussion of how creative participatory approaches are relevant to understanding and interacting with children’s geographies. The framework addresses key issues facing researchers wishing to engage young children in research processes and offers ways to overcome some of the challenges researchers may face. In order to illustrate the six steps, a selection of case studies which provide examples of how experts from a wide range of international contexts have worked with children are presented. These case studies have been selected to be of particular relevance to geographic field research with young children and have been developed and tested by experts from a wide range of international contexts.