Exploring Impacts of Outreach on a National Sample of Undergraduate Physics Students

Physics departments frequently run informal outreach programs, often to engage with local communities and inspire new generations of scientists. Equally important, facilitating these outreach programs helps university students build their physics identity and develop career skills vital for the 21st century. Prior research, however, has been limited to a small number of institutions with modest numbers of facilitators in their studies. To examine a broader population of undergraduate physics students, we developed a survey and distributed it through the national network of the Society of Physics Students. The goal of this survey was to measure students' perceptions of their physics identity, sense of belonging, mindset, and related constructs. Results from regression models show significant positive relationships between participation in outreach programs and measures of students' physics identity and growth mindset. Findings from open-ended questions reveal significant, interrelated themes highlighting the multifaceted impacts of outreach on areas including students' resilience, internal perceptions, transformative experiences, and disciplinary development.