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Afterschool staff are critical to youth’s experiences in activities and shape what youth garner from activities. This study focuses on undergraduate students’ experiences working with adolescents in an afterschool activity through a community-university partnership in an effort to understand the challenges afterschool staff face and the strategies that helped them address those challenges. Undergraduate students, who are referred to as mentors in the activity, ( n = 15; 11 female; 8 Latine, 7 non-Latine) are the staff for a math enrichment afterschool activity serving largely Latine youth. The undergraduate students were interviewed to understand (a) the challenges they encountered when working with adolescents, (b) the strategies they leveraged to respond to these challenges, and (c) the extent to which the themes varied by racial/ethnic cultural backgrounds. Undergraduate students felt they experienced challenges with promoting motivation, teaching math content, navigating group instruction, building connections with adolescents, and establishing authority or respect. To respond to these challenges, they sought help from experienced undergraduate students, attended trainings, facilitated collaborative learning, integrated real-world examples, engaged in structured non-math related conversations, and leveraged students’ sociocultural assets. Results provide key stakeholders with insights on how to design trainings to better support undergraduate students who work with diverse youth. 

Children from underserved, minoritized, and immigrant families have less access to early out-of-school STEM learning opportunities. Playful Learning Landscapes increase the accessibility of early STEM learning in everyday public spaces (e.g., bus stops, grocery stores) by merging principles of guided play and STEM learning goals with local community's values. We used community-based design research to (1) identify Latine families’ funds of knowledge related to play, science, and math learning, and (2) create designs for playful environments merging families’ values and practices with guided play and STEM learning principles. Our design partners were 32 parents, primarily Spanish-speaking immigrant mothers from Mexico, and two directors of a local community organization. The design process consisted of co-design sessions, interviews, inductive thematic analysis, elaboration, playtest and feedback, and iteration. Our findings showed that familismo, heritage representation, and the meaning of community spaces influenced the ways families engaged in STEM learning and the learning environments they desired in their community. Moreover, families’ STEM practices were rooted in everyday experiences of playing cultural games, family food routines, and outdoor activities. Incorporating Latine parents in the design process and leveraging their funds of knowledge resulted in culturally situated designs aligned with playful and STEM learning principles. This study contributes to knowledge of Latine families’ values and practices that can help create home-community connections to strengthen children's learning. 

outh-staff relationships and program activities are important elements in designing high- quality afterschool activities that promote a broad range of outcomes. Using a qualitative approach, Latinx adolescents were interviewed (n 1⁄4 28, 50% girls) about their experiences in a university-based afterschool math enrichment activity. Findings under the first goal of the study suggest that Latinx adolescents perceived changes in their math-specific outcomes (e.g., problem-solving skills), future science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) pathways (e.g., envisioning a future career), and social-emotional skills (e.g., relation- ship skills) as a result of participating in the activity. Under the second goal of the study, findings identified the specific practices that adolescents thought promoted those out- comes, including incorporating advanced math concepts and engaging in collaborative learning, engaging in campus tours and informal conversations, and using culturally respon- sive practices. The findings from this study can be leveraged by scholars and educators to design, further strengthen, and evaluate high-quality afterschool activities. 

High-quality afterschool programs (ASPs) are opportunities to diversify the ways that Latinx youth from economically underprivileged communities experience STEM learning. Utilizing qualitative methods, based on the experiences and perspectives of low-income Latinx middle school participants of a math enrichment ASP in Southern California, we identified four culturally responsive practices: (1) the promotion of an inclusive, safe, and respectful program climate, (2) engaging in personal conversations, (3) facilitating opportunities for mutual and math learning across diverse cultures and perspectives, and (4) the promotion of math and a range of social-emotional skills across contexts. These practices helped youth feel more connected to the program, their peers, and program staff (college mentors); provided a platform for youth voice and contribution to the processes of teaching and learning; facilitated opportunities for skill development and practice across the different contexts of youth’s lives; interrelated with Latinx cultural values; and helped to promote youth’s engagement and math learning. Importantly, youth’s relationships with their mentors was a significant aspect of their experiences and perceptions of these practices. We argue that culturally responsive practices are necessary to achieve high-quality programs and provide specific implications for how ASPs can implement them in the design and implementation of their programs. 

The aim of this study was to use sociocultural perspectives to elaborate on Eccles’ parent socialization model and create a culturally grounded, multidimensional model of parent support among Mexican-descent families. Given Latinx underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers, we focus on science as an important domain in which to study parent support. Using a qualitative approach, this study examines (a) what forms of parent science support do Mexican-descent parents and adolescents perceive as best practices and (b) what are the social, cultural, and contextual barriers parents face and in what ways do parents continue to support their adolescents in science in spite of those barriers? Seventy-four parent (mean age: 40 years; 23% U.S.-born and 77% Mexico-born) and 73 adolescent (mean age: 15 years; 41% female) nterviews were analyzed using inductive and deductive approaches. Findings suggest that parents use traditional and nontraditional culturally grounded forms of support: involvement at home, providing words of encouragement (e.g., échale ganas), and leveraging resources (e.g., kin support). Participants felt work-related barriers, linguistic barriers, and limited science knowledge shaped parents’ support. Results highlight the unique ways parents support their adolescents’ science education as well as the need for educators to consider how parents’ sociocultural experiences shape their support.