How do formal and informal science learning experiences during high school shape students’ career interest and STEM identity?

The urgent need for a stronger STEM workforce to keep the United States competitive globally has propelled policymakers and researchers to mandate for more STEM education. Although extant evidence suggests that students benefit from both formal in-school and informal out-of-school time STEM learning, there is a dearth of research examining the extent to which in-school preparation and out-of-school time activities in STEM cooperate in shaping students’ career interest and STEM identity during the high school years. We leveraged a national U.S. representative sample (N = 10,303) to examine the joint impact of in-school and out-of-school time experiences in shaping students’ STEM career interest at the end of high school and their STEM identity, respectively. Using structural equation modeling, we examined the direct and indirect effects—via in-school and out-of-school time activities—of prior STEM interest on STEM career interest and STEM identity. Results suggested that, consistent with extant research, prior interest was a robust predictor of both outcomes and that both in-school and out-of-school time activities were significant mediators. We also conducted multiple group analyses to assess whether the mediating mechanisms depended on gender, race/ethnicity, and rural status. We found that, relative to total indirect effects, in-school preparation had a stronger effect on students’ STEM career interest than on their STEM identity, while out-of-school time activities had a stronger effect on STEM identity than on STEM career interest. This was true, regardless of gender and race/ethnicity, but different patterns emerged across rural and non-rural students. The burgeoning of out-of-school time programs and initiatives, along with attention to STEM identity, led to a differentiation of the STEM education system between in-school and out-of-school time education that we saw manifested in the whole sample as well as across gender and race/ethnicity. This calls for a new synthesis—creating a coordinated synergy between out-of-school time activities and in-school preparation—that promises a leap forward for STEM education as a whole.