Publications | December 2025
Abstract: Introduction: This randomized control trial (RCT) evaluated an afterschool program with 24 weeks of hands-on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) activities that were developed and delivered by museum educators at sites where the majority of students experienced poverty. The program also encouraged parent involvement in STEM-related activities.
Methods: We contrasted two treatment approaches to understand conditions that best support informal STEM learning during the elementary school period of kindergarten to Grade 5 (K-5). Specifically, this included a 60-min weekly “Basic” program, as well as an enhanced “Stories” version with an additional 15-min read-aloud featuring women and girls doing STEM activities. We randomized 36 afterschool sites with 541 children to determine the benefits of the basic afterschool program and the added benefits of the stories on STEM attitudes, aspects of science achievement, and other outcomes.
Results: There were improvements or interaction effects in three of the five measured child outcomes: STEM value, career aspirations, and perceived math abilities. The most notable finding was that children’s STEM value increased significantly in the Basic treatment (effect size, g = 0.25, p = 0.027) and trended positively in the Stories condition (g = 0.18, p = 0.66), relative to the control group. Parent involvement in STEM also showed some changes.
Discussion: These findings underscore the potential for informal, hands-on experiences to positively influence children’s STEM-related attitudes. However, findings also suggest that interventions may need to be more intensive or sustained across the late elementary grades to achieve more substantial impact.
Published: December 7, 2025
Publication: Frontiers in Education
CLI Authors: Tricia A. Zucker, PhD; Michael P. Mesa, PhD; Valerie P. Bambha, PhD; Dana M. DeMaster, PhD; and Yusra Ahmed, PhD
Funding: The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program under Award Number 2115579 and the Harriet and endowments to UTHealth from the Joe Foster Foundation and the Albert and Margaret Alkek Foundation.
Citation: Zucker TA, Mesa MP, Bambha VP, DeMaster DM, Ahmed Y, Master A, Hammond J and McCallum C (2025) Testing the impact of two afterschool museum outreach interventions on elementary children’s STEM outcomes: hands-on STEM alone or with STEM stories. Front. Educ. 10:1679669. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1679669
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2025.1679669
Supplementary Material: Can be found online: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2025.1679669/full#supplementary-material