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Participate in MOST-Science: Mapping Out-of-School-Time Science

The MOST-Science online questionnaire has closed. Thanks for your interest!

These links provide important information about the questionnaire. For more details, visit our FAQ page.

Why should I participate?

Out-of-school-time (OST) programs are pushing the boundaries of science, engineering and technology education for youth across the country. However, these diverse and creative programs often go unrecognized. Profiling your programs in our nation-wide database will:

  • Highlight your organization and its youth programs to our research team
  • Contribute to a study that will inform funders, policy-makers, researchers and other program providers about the great work in this community and the needs that remain to be addressed
  • Help to identify common needs and challenges for youth OST science programs
  • Support development of future research studies to examine the development, education and career outcomes for youth who participate in OST science programs.

In addition, you have a chance to win a $50 gift certificate! One winner's name will be drawn randomly from every group of 15 responses in order of completion. The winner will be notified by e-mail and will receive his or her choice of:

  • A $50 certificate good for purchases at Staples. Whether it's lab notebooks, rubber bands, sticky notes, or printer cartridges... you can use your Staples certificate to buy supplies to support your science and engineering activities.
  • A $50 donation to Donors Choose, an online charity that allows you to contribute to specific classroom projects requested by teachers all over the U.S.—and there are lots of great science projects on the list! Choose a favorite project, school or city, and make a donation that really matters to children's education.

How does it work?

We are studying OST educational programs that focus on science, engineering or technology and that serve youth from 6th-12th grades. Your organization may offer one or more of these programs.

To contribute to the study, you will first create an account on the questionnaire web site. Once you have created an account, you can log out and back in as often as necessary. You may contribute as many programs as you like.

After you have created an account and logged in, you will be prompted to build a Program Profile for each of your youth programs. The first few questions will check on certain program features that help us to define the study sample.

Later questions ask about the structure and educational content of your program, your youth audience, and adult involvement as facilitators or mentors. We ask you to describe a typical activity that youth do as part of your program. We also ask for some information about your organization and the partners who help you bring your programs to youth. It may be helpful to have certain facts handy, such as:

  • the approximate number of youth who participated in your program last year
  • their approximate gender and ethnicity distribution
  • how many hours a typical youth participant spends in your program
  • the professional networks or organizations with which your organization is affiliated
  • major funding sources that have supported your work

Who should complete the questionnaire? 

Because the questionnaire asks for in-depth information about each youth program, the best person to complete it will be someone who is familiar with both the day-to-day workings of the youth program and the bigger picture of your organization as a whole. If your organization offers several different youth programs, it may help to coordinate within your workplace so that each profile can be filled out by the person who manages that particular program.

We invite you to complete the questionnaire whether you run a local program or are affiliated with a larger, regional or national program (e.g. scouting, 4-H, Boys' & Girls' Clubs).

How long will it take?

It takes around 15 minutes to create a profile of one youth program. The total time required will depend on how many programs you contribute. For a large organization with many programs, it may take over an hour. Once you have created an account, you can log out and back in as many times as necessary.

More Frequently Asked Questions

To learn more about the study design and our plans for sharing results, read the Frequently Asked Questions.

MOST-Science is supported by the Noyce Foundation and by the National Science Foundation under award DRL-1010953.  Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in these reports are those of the researchers, and do not necessarily represent the official views, opinions, or policy of the National Science Foundation or the Noyce Foundation.