MIT App Inventor and Youth Radio to launch the Youth News Network STEM desk

Jul 25, 2016 hal's Blog

Im exhilarated to announce that MIT App Inventor and Youth Radio (https://youthradio.org/) are beginning a 3-year initiative to launch the STEM Desk for Youth News Network (YNN). YNN will be a new nationwide model for STEM education based on youth-driven, multimedia journalism and related app development with App Inventor. This work is funded by the National Science Foundations Advanced Informal STEP Learning program.

Youth Radio trains young people in digital media and technology and launches them on career and education pathways. Headquartered in Oakland, CA, it serves as National Public Radios Youth Desk and reports stories by and about young people across the U.S., bringing youth perspectives to issues of public concern.

YNN aims to overturn conventional beliefs about teens and their phones: that these devices are sources of distraction, addiction, abuse, and other forms of trouble. The centerpiece of YNN will be Youth Mobile Power, a series of stories about young people using mobile technologies with creativity and purpose to empower themselves and their communities: activities such as tracking access to fresh water in poor communities, supporting effective autism treatment, and promoting safety on college campuses. The stories will build on Youth Radios Peabody Award-winning media production capabilities and MITs technology strengths to create powerful multimedia productions augmented by new mobile computing resources built on App Inventor.

The App Inventor team is tremendously excited by this opportunity to collaborate with Youth Radio. Well be starting work on the project in September. Watch for us over the next 3 years as we help support and promote the next generation of mobile STEM media innovators!