What types of STEM activities are today’s youth participating in outside of school? The informal science community can easily document enrollment in structured activities, yet less is known about participation in non-structured activities like hobbies, reading science fiction, and online experiences, including games and social media. The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) surveyed over 15,000 college students in introductory college English classes nationally — a mixture of students in STEM and non-STEM majors — about their participation in a variety of precollege structured STEM activities (both in person and online) including group organizations, like Scouts, lectures or talks, and internships, and non-structured activities, like tinkering, stargazing, and watching online STEM videos.

The Participation in Structure and Unstructured Out-Of-School-Time Activities webinar was hosted by  NGCP on April 18, 2020. In this webinar recording, presenters share which activities are particularly attractive to girls and other under-resourced youth.