Out-of-school science learning environments enrich classroom education in many countries around the world. Numerous studies have been conducted on the effects of such learning environments, particularly their ability to promote interest. As different theories of interest were used in these studies, so far, no overview of this field of research…

This paper explores how public and student engagement with NASA's Lucy Mission--targeting the Jupiter Trojan asteroids affects informal science learning, interest in planetary science, and youth engagement with space-related careers. Through a mixed-methods study including surveys, observational data, and analysis of public outreach campaigns, we…

This study examines interactions of fourth graders and their parents during informal science activities to understand the parental influence on children's science interests, attitudes, and participation. Sixteen Latino/a parent-child dyads and 16 Non-Latino/a parent-child dyads, matched on socioeconomic status (SES), participated in this…