2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Despite widespread efforts to increase access to STEM, women and racial minorities continue to be underrepresented in these fields. One explanation is that interest in STEM has been shown to decrease starting in early grades. To counteract this decline in interest, researchers have found a link between consistent engagement in out-of-school time (OST) STEM programs with an improved interest in STEM. However, attendance is often sporadic, and the duration of programming varies widely. Further investigation is needed on the relationship between exposure to afterschool STEM as a predictor of interest in STEM. Building on previous research on OST programs and STEM interest, this quantitative study looks to address the gap by exploring the relationship between frequency of attendance on interest in STEM for underrepresented groups. The program of study, Space Club, is a year-long afterschool program that promotes STEM learning through hands-on activities centered around space exploration. Through convenience sampling based on prior engagement with Space Club, four urban middle schools located in a low-income and predominately Hispanic community participated in the study. The following research questions were addressed: (1) After controlling for initial STEM interest, do students who attend more hours of Space Club have a higher post STEM interest?, (2) After controlling for initial STEM interest, does gender moderate the relationship between hours attending Space Club and post STEM interest? Students attended weekly meetings during the 2018 - 2019 school year, and surveys measuring interest in STEM were implemented in October and again in May. Data for this study included 145 Space Club students who completed both the pre and post-surveys. Descriptive statistics are presented, followed by a regression analysis using a sequential model-building approach to address each research question. Analysis did not find a statistically significant relationship between hours spent in Space Club and post interest in STEM after controlling for a pre STEM interest. Additionally, the effect of gender on this relationship was not statistically significant in explaining post STEM interest. However, while students generally lose interest in STEM in middle school, Space Club students in this study started with a high interest in STEM and maintained that high interest throughout the year. Therefore, an ongoing STEM program such as the weekly Space Club program appears to have the potential to maintain STEM interest for middle school students, a critical time for later STEM persistence. Implications and future studies are discussed.