From opportunity gap to opportunity yield: The benefits of out-of-school authentic mentored research for youth from historically marginalized communities in STEM

Our longitudinal, mixed methods study explores the experiences of over five hundred youth in long-term mentored research experiences outside of school, paired with data on their reports of plans to pursue STEM. Our participants, youth from historically marginalized communities, represent the most promise for diversifying STEM: 81% are students of color, and almost half are multilingual. This paper shares an analysis of a cross-section of quantitative data collected from this large-scale study as well as qualitative data in the form of participant interviews. Drawing from our quantitative data, we find that in stark contrast to the opportunity gaps that youth like our participants encounter, participating in out of school research generates a ‘yield’ of opportunities to engage in science practices–significantly more than in school– and to contribute meaningfully to a science community of practice. Our qualitative data suggests that this ‘opportunity yield’ may also contribute to their continued pursuit of STEM. Taken together, these findings underscore the critical role that learning in out-of-school mentored research settings can play for students revealing its important, complementary role in a STEM ecosystem.