Research on Youth Shaping Communities Through STEM
Posted by Afterschool Alliance on March 31, 2026
Study after study documents the impact of youth-led STEM programs on young people: their growing confidence, stronger STEM identities, and increased sense of civic responsibility. But the field has largely stopped there. Research that tracks what happens beyond the young person – to the community issue being tackled, to the systems those young people are trying to change – is rare.
We went looking for research that could answer those questions, and recently published our findings in a background paper, Examining the Research Landscape: What Existing Studies Reveal—and Omit—About Youth-Driven Afterschool STEM and Communities, that tells this story.
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