Over two sessions, our guests show us how to navigate race and gender representation in children's media in these times. They help us understand the media landscape as well as how AI bias is flattening the represented world for kids, and give practical steps that kids and their adults can take to get the diverse representation they need.
In this final session, Drs. Kareem Edouard and AnneMarie McClain, show us how to navigate race and gender representation in children's media in these times. They help us understand the media landscape as well as how AI bias is flattening the represented world for kids, and give practical steps that kids and their adults can take to get the diverse representation they need. They point us to great kids media you'll want to know about!
Related Resources
A Guide for Having Brave Conversations About Children’s Media with Kids - Dr. AnneMarie McClain created this guide to help you have brave conversations with children and youth about representation, identity, and bias.
Recommended Media
- Stuntboy: The Animated MixTape Series - Portico Reeves, a young Black boy in Skylight Gardens navigating friendship, anxiety he calls "the frets," and the weight of being a secret superhero. Based on the book written by Jason Reynolds and Illustrated by Raúl the Third. Executive Producer & Showrunner: Dr. Kareem Edouard.
- MayNERD’s World of Science - Maynard Okereke is the super fun science nerd behind MayNERD’S Wild World of Science! He’s not just a science lover, he’s an actual Engineer who turned his love for music, acting, and science into a mission to make learning exciting for kids everywhere.
- Work It Out, Wombats! - Work It Out Wombats! shows how STEAM media can turn play into problem-solving, helping young learners think, build, and make sense of the world through imagination and hands-on learning. Check out Dr. Kareem’s conversation on PBS about Haitian representation in the series.
Places to start when searching for good kids media
Make stories with Kids!
- Use paper or a design app like the free FlipAClip
- Co-design means the child is a designer, not just an audience member
- Ask before you assume: “What do you want this character to look like? To care about?”
- Let a child's choices stand, even when they surprise you — that's the whole point of the exercise
- This is the same shift the field needs: from media made about Black children, to media made with them
Make this practice part of your family media diet
- Keep co-designing at home — the tools from tonight work with paper as well as software
- Revisit the conversation guide whenever a new piece of media comes into the home
- Amplify the good content you find:
- Start your own recommended media lists and share! Share what you like and what you don’t. Share what you say and what works (and what doesn’t). Your voices are the voices that can change the game.
- Subscribe, share, follow creators and content you like
- Donate your favorite books to your child’s school; request that your library order specific great titles
- Write to media organizations asking them for changes in representation
