How does informal physics education change youth's STEM interest over time?

Informal STEM Learning (ISL) experiences such as out-of-school programs, summer camps, etc. have shown promise for growing STEM interest, fostering positive STEM identity formation, and providing participants with social capital necessary to successfully navigate STEM career pathways. While the impacts of ISL participation are widely accepted in ISL communities, the questions of whether interest motivates youth to participate in informal STEM learning, and how STEM interest evolves over time as a result of continued participation, have remained largely unaddressed. In this talk, we discuss the current findings of a longitudinal mixed-methods study of the Partnerships for Informal Science Education in the Community (PISEC) program, an out-of-school physics program that aims to cultivate STEM interest and positive STEM identity formation among youth. To date, results suggest that initial interest plays a significant role in youth’s decision to participate in the program. We will present results from the first two-years of data collection, discuss implications and limitations of our findings, and review future directions for this work.