Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41202100›Full record

ArticlePloS one2025

Increasing STEM career interest: The role of out-of-school time STEM programs designed for underrepresented minorities.

Maria Dresser, Kelly Miller, Gerhard Sonnert, Philip Sadler

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Maria DresserPhysics Department, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0009-6774-418X
Kelly MillerSchool of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Gerhard SonnertHarvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Philip SadlerHarvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The creation of a large and diverse STEM workforce is a national imperative in the U.S. Despite significant efforts to improve equitable STEM educational and hiring practices, disparate employment in STEM fields across racial and ethnic demographics persists. Educational researchers and practitioners have increasingly focused on out-of-school time STEM programs as a potential avenue for boosting high school students' interest in pursuing STEM careers. However, many studies on the efficacy of such programs rely on data from single programs with small sample sizes. The present work uses our nationally representative sample of 14,176 U.S. college students to investigate the relationship between out-of-school time STEM program attendance and students' reported STEM career interests. Our analysis shows that students who, during their high school years, attended an out-of-school time STEM program designed specifically for underrepresented minority students had 2.4 times the odds of reporting an interest in a STEM career at the end of high school, compared to those who did not attend any out-of-school time STEM program [Formula: see text]. By contrast, students who attended a general population STEM program (not specifically designed for underrepresented minority students) had only 1.3 times the odds of expressing an interest in a STEM career at the end of high school, compared to those who did not attend any out-of-school time STEM program [Formula: see text]. Additionally, those who attended an underrepresented minority STEM program had 1.9 times the odds of aspiring to a STEM career, compared to those who attended a general population program [Formula: see text]. This is the first study to use nationally representative data to compare underrepresented minority focused and general out-of-school time STEM programs. Given these promising results, this work encourages further development and funding of out-of-school time STEM programs designed for underrepresented minorities to foster a diverse and equitable STEM workforce.

Indexed as

Career ChoiceEngineeringMathematicsMinority GroupsScienceTechnologyAdolescentFemaleHumansMaleSchoolsStudentsUnited StatesYoung Adult

Identifiers

PMID41202100
PMCPMC12594387

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.