Based on work in media studies, new literacy studies, applied linguistics, the arts and empirical research on the experiences of urban youths' informal media arts practices, we articulate a new vision for media education in the digital age that encompasses new genres, convergence, media mixes and participation. We first outline the history of how students' creative production has been used to meet the goals of media educators and highlight new trends in media education that are instructive for creative production. Our goal is to introduce and situate the new ways in which youth are participating in creative production and the subsequent impact that this might have on teaching and learning media education today. Findings from an ethnographic study are used to demonstrate the potential of youth producing new media, such as videogames and interactive art, on media education research and practice.

Lessons learned from the grassroots spreading of the “maker movement” can help us reimagine schools and foster a mindset of creativity and innovation in educational settings.

The Maker movement promotes hands-on making, including crafts, robotics, and computing. The movement's potential to transform education rests in our ability to address notable gender disparities, particularly in STEM fields. E-textiles-the first femaledominated computing community-provide inspiration for overcoming longstanding cultural divides in classrooms. Analysis of children's use of e-textiles reveals that materials like needles, fabric, and conductive thread rupture traditional gender scripts around electronics and implicitly gives girls hands-on access and leadership roles. This reconceptualization of cultural divides as sets of tacitly accepted practices rooted in gendered histories has implications for reconceptualizing traditionally male-dominated areas of schooling.

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As an emerging field of theory, research, and practice, STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) has received attention for its efforts to incorporate the arts into the rubric of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) learning. In particular, many informal educators have embraced it as an inclusive and authentic approach to engaging young people with STEM. Yet, as with many nascent fields, the conceptualization and usage of STEAM is somewhat ambivalent and weakly theorized. On the one hand, STEAM offers significant promise through its focus on multiple ways of knowing and new pathways to equitable learning. On the other hand, it is often deployed in theory, pedagogy, and practice in ambiguous or potentially problematic ways toward varying ends. This paper attempts to disentangle some of the key tensions and contradictions of the STEAM concept as currently operationalized in educational research, policy, and practice. We pay particular attention to the transformative learning potential supported by contexts where STEAM is conceptualized as both pedagogical and mutually instrumental. That is, neither STEM nor arts are privileged over the other, but both are equally in play. We link the possibilities suggested by this approach to emerging theories for understanding how designing for and surfacing epistemic practices linked to the relevant disciplines being integrated into STEAM programs may point the way toward resolving tensions in inter‐ and transdisciplinary learning approaches.

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Purpose: Using a systems-based approach to creativity and a sociocultural constructionist approach to learning, this study highlights how creative ideas emerge within a community and spread amongst its members.Design/methodology/approach: Using a design-based approach to research, this study took place within the social media environment, Quest Atlantis. Chat data was collected from 85 participants and screenshots were taken of the virtual architecture designed and built by players in the Quest Atlantis environment, in an effort to explore the nature of creativity and collaborative learning within the context of virtual 3D architectural construction. Findings:Findings illustrate the rise and spread of creativity in online communities and also point to the social and cultural nature of creativity. Research limitations/implications:As this is the first study of its kind, we focus on how creativity operates within a single community in order to draw implications about digital creativity more broadly. Practical implications:Implications for designing virtual and physical communities to promote creativity are discussed.

Abstract. Traditionally, educational researchers and practitioners have focused on the development of youths' critical understanding of media as a key aspect of new media literacies. The 21 st Century media landscape suggests an extension of this traditional notion of literacy -an extension that sees creative designs, ethical considerations, and technical skills as part of youth's expressive and intellectual engagement with media as participatory competencies. These engagements with media are also part of a growing Do-It-Yourself, or DIY, movement involving arts, crafts, and new technologies. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a framework and a language for understanding the multiple DIY practices in which youth engage while producing media. In the review, we will first provide a historical overview of the shifting perspectives of two related fields-new media literacies and computer literacy -before outlining the general trends in DIY media cultures that see youth moving towards becoming content creators. We then introduce how a single framework allows us to consider different participatory competencies in DIY under one umbrella. Special attention will be given to the digital practices of remixing, reworking, and repurposing popular media among disadvantaged youth. We will conclude with considerations of equity, access, and participation in after-school settings and possible implications for K-12 education.