Investigating Informal STEM Teaching and Learning in a Planetarium's Urban Youth Leadership Program

Science museums have become more inclusive and engaging to audiences, including the development of programming intended to reach wider audiences and provide more equitable access to science learning. However, how do educators and designers of these programs conceptualize equity? To explore this question, interviews with educators (n=6), student artifacts, and program documents were analyzed to identify the ways educators talked about equity in one out-of-school youth program created and implemented by a large, urban science museum. These discourses of equity fit into five categories: bridging in-school and out-of-school, community acceptance, infrastructure access, motivation/enjoyment and positive affective responses, and increase access for a select few.