McGaw YMCA’s MetaMedia managers Sam Carroll (third from left) and Onam Lansana (third from right) joined Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy educators to present their shared research at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting.
EVANSTON, IL. — MetaMedia, the year-round digital media center and maker space for middle school youth at McGaw YMCA, was recently highlighted at the national American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting.
Educators from MetaMedia and Northwestern University presented research on the importance of using an intersectional and feminist abolitionist approach in maker spaces to help address the inequities of race, gender, and class often faced by girls in such programs. Data was collected from the six-week MetaMedia Summer Experience (MSX), which is a STEAM-based summer learning program at the Y for Black, Latine/x, and South Asian middle school students focused on coding, music, writing, engineering, storytelling, and art. The MSX program is a collaboration between McGaw YMCA and Northwestern University and receives support from the City of Evanston, generous donors, and District 65.
The study highlighted how MetaMedia Managers Sam Carroll and Onam Lansana have seamlessly integrated their research findings into MetaMedia’s daily after-school curriculum at the Y. According to the study, these findings have not only influenced how they support MetaMedia staff but has also deepened their understanding of student behavior and learning environments.
For more information on MetaMedia, visit www.mcgawymca.org/metamedia.
To access the research, “World-Making Through a Feminist Abolitionist Lens in a STEAM Middle School Program,” visit: https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/rrq.532