Girl Talk: A Methodology for Examining the Transmediation of STEM Education Policy Across Digital Platforms

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 9:50 am Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: “This Needs to Change”: Student Perspectives on Schooling and Education Reform (Table 10)

Abstract

This paper examines how STEM education policies that center girls were transmediated across networked publics. The purpose of this research is to understand how national discourse about girls in STEM influences United States’ STEM education. To do so, we developed a methodology for following the transmediation of news articles about girls’ STEM education from online news sources including the New York Times and the Washington Post on the social media platforms Instagram and YouTube. Findings from this study reveal that discourses of STEM education for girls on a national scale inform local policies. This research is significant because it provides a methodology for future studies of the transmediation of girls’ education across STEM ecologies within the United States and globally.

Authors

• Nalya Arabelle Fenella Rodriguez, California State University - Northridge

• Aaminah Norris, California State University - Sacramento

• Maha Elsinbawi, California State University - Sacramento