4-H Participation and Science Interest in Youth

Authors

Katherine E. Heck, University of CaliforniaFollow
Ramona M. Carlos, University of CaliforniaFollow
Cynthia Barnett, University of California Cooperative ExtensionFollow
Martin H. Smith, University of CaliforniaFollow

Volume

50

Issue

2

DOI

10.34068/joe.50.02.61

Abstract

The study reported here investigated the impacts of participation in 4-H on young people's interest and participation in science. Survey data were collected from relatively large and ethnically diverse samples of elementary and high school-aged students in California. Results indicated that although elementary-grade 4-H members are not more interested in science than other youth, by high school, participation in 4-H is associated with a greater number of science classes and higher-level science coursework. These results suggest that the 4-H program may have the ability to influence science interest and participation in the long term among its members.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Heck, K. E., Carlos, R. M., Barnett, C., & Smith, M. H. (2012). 4-H Participation and Science Interest in Youth. The Journal of Extension, 50(2), Article 61. https://doi.org/10.34068/joe.50.02.61