Critical media literacy and Black female identity construction: A conceptual framework for empowerment, equity, and social justice in education

This paper addresses the issues of knowledge production, which interrogate and disrupt dominant narratives that subjugate Black females related to their identity. We contextualize our discussion through the lens of critical consciousness and critical media literacy by exploring the role of popular media in identity development/imposition for Black females. We outline issues of Black female identity politics by framing them through the description of critical media literacy as a 21st century literacy, with Black Feminist Theory as our theoretical lens. Similar discussions have remained centered in the field of Media Studies and there has been inadequate attention to these issues in the education realm, particularly as they relate to Black females and their self-concept and self-empowerment

What is learning? A complex conceptual systems analysis of conceptualizations of learning

Beliefs about the nature of learning have implications for learner agency, empowerment, and justice. Conceptualizations held by learning scientists and STEM professors were analyzed as complex conceptual systems and were found to be different for each group. A Transfer-Acquisition conceptualization of learning was dominant in the STEM professor group, and a Construction-Becoming conceptualization was dominant in the learning scientists group. The practices emergent in the Transfer-Acquisition conceptualization were found to be inconsistent with critical pedagogy. The insights in this study not only support claims in the literature that conceptualizations of learning impact practices in teaching and learning, but also suggest that complex systems theories and methodologies may be a fruitful new approach to understanding the relationships between conceptualizations and practices

(Designing for) learning computational STEM and arts integration in culturally sustaining learning ecologies

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the designed cultural ecology of a hip-hop and computational science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) camp and the ways in which that ecology contributed to culturally sustaining learning experiences for middle school youth. In using the principles of hip-hop as a CSP for design, the authors question how and what practices were supported or emerged and how they became resources for youth engagement in the space. Design/methodology/approach: The overall methodology was design research. Through interpretive analysis, it uses an example of four Black girls participating in the camp as they build a computer-controlled DJ battle station. Findings: Through a close examination of youth interactions in the designed environment – looking at their communication, spatial arrangements, choices and uses of materials and tools during collaborative project work – the authors show how a learning ecology, designed based on hip-hop and computational practices and shaped by the history and practices of the dance center where the program was held, provided access to ideational, relational, spatial and material resources that became relevant to learning through computational making. The authors also show how youth engagement in the hip-hop computational making learning ecology allowed practices to emerge that led to expansive learning experiences that redefine what it means to engage in computing. Research limitations/implications: Implications include how such ecologies might arrange relations of ideas, tools, materials, space and people to support learning and positive identity development. Originality/value: Supporting culturally sustaining computational STEM pedagogies, the article argues two original points in informal youth learning 1) an expanded definition of computing based on making grammars and the cultural practices of hip-hop, and 2) attention to cultural ecologies in designing and understanding computational STEM learning environments