Youth Civic Engagement Through Computing: Cases and Implications

As a powerful tool for creating content, computer programming has been employed by some civic programs to engage youth in examining and challenging sociopolitical injustices. We present a case review of youth civic engagement programs (N=6) based on the lens of critical computational literacy (CCL), a conceptual framework that calls for people to challenge social injustices using computational skills. Employing Structured Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, we examine the program features and how participants were exposed to the computational and critical aspects of CCL. We further reflect on design implications for civic researchers, organizations, and computing educators to cultivate CCL in young people.