Thanks to the Calculus Project through Concord-Carlisle High School, rising CCHS sophomores Laiya Maria Pavlov, Zora Webb and Emmi Taylor completed the Data Activism program at MIT.
The Data Activism program aims to teach high school students of color in the Greater Boston area how to use computer programming, data science, and art to challenge power inequalities, such as racism. The program, led by Raechel Walker and Professor Cynthia Breazeal of MIT Media Lab Personal Robots Group, taught students how to use data science to mitigate systemic oppression.
The students partnered with local community organizations and engaged in critical Participatory Action Research, which included conducting background research about a specific example of systemic racism, finding a data set, and implementing a data analysis. They recently presented their research at the First Data Activism Research Symposium at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at the Critical Participatory Action Research Showcase at Harvard University.
