Reimagining Youth Agency and Social Media Platforms With Middle School Girls and Nonbinary Youth (Poster 23)

• In Event: Saturday Poster Session 3:05 pm
  In Poster Session: Learning and Motivation in Social and Cultural Contexts 3

Abstract

Solving our world’s challenges calls for the development of agency—the will and capacity to act on the world (Ahearn, 2002; Gao, 2010)—in youth. This study assessed changes in students’ sense of agency through youth participatory design research (YPDR) wherein 60 middle school girls and non-binary youth were engaged in the challenge of designing a social media platform for schools. Analysis of pre- and post-surveys indicated that student agency increased by a small but significant margin and interviews and think-aloud corroborated these findings. What’s more, students’ platform designs were embedded with agency-promoting features. These results demonstrate an opportunity for girls and non-binary youth to build agency and agentic platforms through pedagogical research and intentionally-designed curricula in schools.

Author

• Emily Rose Southerton, West Chester University of Pennsylvania