“How Integrating Quilt-Making with Computation Supported Black Teens in Reimagining Liberatory Futures with Emerging Technologies (2024)” by Mia S. Shaw in Voices in Urban Education (site) (open access)

In light of calls for more arts integration in STEM and computing education, an initiative called restorying through design offers Black girls a context for both integrating African American quiltmaking practices with computation and interrogating and reimagining oppressive narratives about emerging technologies. Using grounded theory, Black feminism, and womanism as lenses, I analyzed the design artifacts and reflections of three Black girl participants from a workshop I developed and implemented in 2021 where fourteen nondominant youth used electronic textiles to design interactive quilt patches to restory dominant narratives about computing technology. In the findings, I discuss how participants’ quilt patches reimagined technology futures that valued wellness and inclusion. Lastly, I consider the possibilities for self-definition, empowerment, and belonging among Black girls restorying through design together in community, ending with potential sociopolitical and ethical considerations when designing learning environments that engage Black girls and other nondominant youth in restorying through design. 

“The Internet Doesn't Exist in the Sky: Literacy, AI, and the Digital Middle Passage (2024)” by Mia S. Shaw, Stephanie Toliver, and Tiera Tanksley in Reading Research Quarterly (site) (PDF)

This article utilizes speculative and visual storytelling alongside interdisci- plinary research on artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic oppression to engage in a thought experiment on how literacy studies might refuse the oppressionist logics currently undermining the possibilities of AI in literacy education. As technological advancements in education will only continue to increase and as society is yet to ascertain the parameters of an ethical AI system, it is paramount to analyze the past and present and contem- plate potential futures, especially those that do not result in violence against Black and Brown peoples. To engage in speculation, we employ Endarkened Storywork (Toliver, 2022) to present an empirically driven, futuristic, science fiction narrative from two perspectives: (1) a US, Black girl who is forced to participate in AI-structured secondary schooling and (2) a Black girl in Haiti who is forced to live in a country polluted by technological byproduct. This narrative, which is grounded in academic research and news editorials, is ac- companied by comic art and followed by a companion analysis detailing the theoretical backdrop of the story. By utilizing multiple methods of scholarly distribution, we provide multiple entry points for readers to engage with this work. We offer a means for readers to see—via story, art, and scholar- ship—the potential impacts of AI on Black people globally. Additionally, by situating this article in the creative and scholarly realms, we strategically de- construct traditional forms and methods of knowledge production that have constrained academic research and rendered invisible alternative forms of data representation.

“Restorying a Black girl’s future: Using womanist storytelling methodologies to reimagine dominant narratives in computing education (2023)” by Mia S. Shaw, James Joshua Coleman, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, and Yasmin Kafai in Journal of the Learning Sciences (site) (PDF)

Scholarship demonstrates that Black girls’ capacities to imagine possible futures in comput-ing are constrained by narratives of white masculinity and misogynoir embedded within computing. Building on race critical code studies and identity-as-narrative theories, we examine restorying through Black woma-nist storytelling methodologies for integrating Black girls’ intersectional identities when designing and reim-agining their computing futures. We ask: How might womanist storytelling methods support one Black girl in restorying possible computing futures?

“Leveraging Local Resources and Contexts for Inclusive Computer Science Classrooms: Reflections from Experienced High School Teachers Implementing Electronic Textiles (2020)” by Mia S. Shaw, Deborah Fields, and Yasmin Kafai in Computer Science Education (site) (PDF)

To understand the challenges faced in facilitating an open-ended unit and the pedagogical strategies enacted to address those challenges, we analyze the self-reported teaching practices that experienced teachers developed in their implementation of a constructionist electronic textiles unit in Exploring Computer Science.

“Connecting with Computer Science: Electronic Textile Portfolios as Ideational Identity Resources for High School Students (2019)” by Mia S. Shaw, Deborah Fields, and Yasmin Kafai in International Journal of Multicultural Education (site) (PDF)

The development of student identities—their interests in computer science, perceptions of the discipline, and sense of belonging in the field—is critical for broadening participation of underrepresented groups in computing. This paper reports on the design of portfolios in which two classes of high school students reflected on the process of making electronic textile projects. We examine how students expressed self-authorship in relation to computer science and how the use of reflective portfolios shaped students’ perceptions of computer science. In the discussion we consider how reflective portfolios can serve as ideational resources for computer science identity construction.

Selected Conference Proceedings – Peer Reviewed

“Interactive Murals: New Opportunities for Collaborative STEAM Learning” by Alyshia Bustos, Nanibah Chacon, Mia S. Shaw, Fiona Bell, and Leah Buechley at CHI 2024 (site) (PDF)

This paper introduces interactive murals—artworks that combine longstanding traditions in community mural painting with ubiquitous computing—as new sites for collaborative STEAM learning. Using research-through-design and participatory design methods, we conducted an intensive spring and summer workshop in which high school students were introduced to electronics and programming through the process of creating an interactive mural. We describe the workshop activities, the mural design process, and the data collection and analysis methods. Through documenting student learning in programming and electronics and the collaboration that occurred, we build an argument for the novel learning afordances of interactive murals, emphasizing the unique opportunities that they provide for collaborative STEAM learning.

“An Ethical Imperative: Increasing the Participation of Black Women in Computer Science Education Research” by Tamara Pearson, Stefanie Marshall, Yolanda A Rankin, and Mia S Shaw at SIGCSE 2024 (site) (PDF)

Enhanced participation of Black women in CS education research is of ethical imperative, and empowering individuals who would otherwise not be able to fully engage in this community improves the quality of research and increases our national potential to solve real-world problems. We posit that the lack of participation of Black women in CS education research is not due to a lack of interest or expertise, but instead is another example of the continued marginalization of Black women that exists throughout our society. This panel of Black women scholars will share (1) their unique experiences and perspectives as Black women in the field of CS education, (2) the barriers Black women encounter in CS education research, and (3) existing and potential support mechanisms that enable Black women to more fully engage in the CS education research community.

“Reimagining the Future of Teaching and Learning Using Black Feminist-Womanist Storytelling Methodologies” by Mia S Shaw, Naomi Thompson, Ti’Era Worsley, Aireale J Rodgers, and Stephanie Toliver at ISLS 2023 (site) (PDF)

In this symposium, four Black women learning scientists use Black feminist-womanist storytelling as an approach for restorying the future of education. Through sharing past and present learning and teaching experiences, each researcher will interrogate dominant narratives that often marginalize Black girls and women throughout their learning trajectories. Resisting these narratives, they will draw from missing or silenced perspectives to reimagine more liberatory futures for learners at the intersection of multiple systems of oppression. Through analyzing and theorizing their stories, the discussant (another Black woman education researcher) will review overarching themes across each story to demonstrate how centering the knowledge, experiences, and practices of Black women and girls offers unique epistemologies and methodologies for transforming education.

“Charting the Identity Turn in K-12 Computer Science Education: Developing More Inclusive Learning Pathways for Identities” by Mia S. Shaw and Yasmin Kafai at ISLS 2020 (site) (PDF)

While much attention has focused on promoting computational thinking in K-12 CS education, much less attention has been paid to the equally important dimension of what it means to become connected to—or identify with—the discipline. Previous approaches to CS identity have mostly focused on getting students to reveal their identifications in the form of drawings or survey responses. More recent approaches have started to examine narratives, positionings and critical engagement in a field that historically has marginalized large groups of people, especially women and students of color. In this paper, we chart and review this “identity turn” in CS education by drawing on metaphors developed in STEM and literacy studies to review how identity has been framed and researched. In the discussion, we address how a focus on learner identities with computing can contribute towards promoting a richer and more critical understanding of learning and teaching in K-12 CS education.

“Transformative Storytelling as Critical Praxis for Educational Leaders” by Laura Colket, Janay M. Garrett, and Mia S. Shaw in Pak and Ravitch’s (2021) Critical Leadership Praxis for Educational and Social Change

Discussant remarks for “The Role of Emergent Technologies in Equitable Futures: Navigating Between Entrenched Injustices and Expansive Possibilities” symposium at AERA 2024 (PDF)

“Restorying Liberatory Educational Futures through Quilt-Making”- An invited keynote and workshop for GATHER (Gathering Action Together: Harbingers of Engineering Revolution) Retreat in April 2024

“Restorying through Design: Creating interactive projects that interrogate and reimagine stories and myths” - Invited talk at AIM Academy in April 2024

“Restorying STEAM Identities: Applying Black Feminist-Womanist Methodologies to Reimagine Identities in/through STEAM” - Invited talk and workshop for the MIXI Institute for STEM & The Imagination in November 2023

“Controlling our narrative: Black History & Picture Books” - Invited talk at Swarthmore College in October 2022