A Design-Based Informal Physics Program from a Youth Perspective Brett L. Fiedler, 1, 2 Claudia Fracchiolla, 3 Michael B. Bennett, 1, 2 Kathleen Hinko, 4 and Noah D. Finkelstein 2 1 JILA, University of Colorado Boulder, 440 UCB, Boulder, CO, 80309 2 Department of Physics, University of Colorado at Boulder, 390 UCB, Boulder, CO, 80309 3 University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland 4 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, 567 Wilson Rd., East Lansing, MI, USA 48823 A core principle of design-based educational programming is its focus on iterative improvement through the incorporation of viewpoints from multiple stakeholders. The youth who participate in informal physics programs are heavily invested and spend their time and energy interacting with the program; however, their feedback is not often considered in the iterative design process. The Partnerships for Informal Science Education in the Community (PISEC) is an informal physics program adapted from the design-based Fifth Dimension afterschool model. Here, we consider the child participants as stakeholders in the program and ask what it is that children value in an informal physics program. Semi-formal interviews with the children are coded within the context of the Fifth Dimension framework to understand the youth perspective on a program built with physics practice as a core principle. We see a variety of themes in the children’s responses that align with Fifth Dimension principles and additionally aligns with several practices outlined in the Next Generation Science Standards. I. INTRODUCTION Informal physics programs are important endeavors to sci- entifically engage children, build physics identity, and im- prove access to physics-related careers [1–3]. Examples of informal physics programs for youth that are often facilitated by university physics departments include popular lectures, summer camps, and afterschool programs. While these pro- grams are dependent on children’s participation, the children themselves are often not included in the design of these pro- grams. Since informal learning is voluntary by nature, it is critical that design of such programs prioritizes children’s en- gagement. We seek to understand how informal physics programs are perceived by youth, in order to design physics learning envi- ronments for engagement. To accomplish this goal, we turn to Design Based Implementation Research (DBIR) [4]. DBIR seeks to provide tools and methodology to guide continuous improvement of programs through a number of shared prin- ciples. Among those is the creation of a team with a vested interest in the improvement of a program and continued incor- poration of each of these stakeholder’s views throughout the design process. In informal physics programs, teams of adults come together to create programming for children. However, the youth who participate in the educational programming are also stakeholders in the process. Children have a unique per- spective and may be more likely to participate if we align with their goals, given their time committed to these activities. In this study we examine youth perceptions of the design and implementation of an informal physics program. We ex- amined one particular informal physics program for youth, the Partnerships for Informal Science Education in the Com- munity (PISEC) program, which the authors co-facilitate. This program was created as an instantiation of physics con- tent and practices in a more general afterschool program model called the Fifth Dimension (5D). As instructors and or- ganizers, we have goals for this program we want to achieve. Part of the rationale of this study is to de-center the instruc- tor perspective and consider the perceived program outcomes from the viewpoint of the youth participants. We believe this approach is important - communication to youth audiences is often framed by physicists as "outreach", implying that there is an expert perspective that must be conveyed to novices. With this work, we seek to interrogate not only the imple- mentation of our program, but also the design principles on which it was built. To do this, we interviewed children and analyzed their responses with respect to both the 5D design principles and physics practices. II. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION PISEC is a joint collaboration of JILA NSF Physics Fron- tier Center and the PER group in the physics department at the University of Colorado Boulder [5]. In PISEC, uni- versity educators (typically undergraduate/graduate students and researchers in physics) travel to local K-12 schools with larger proportions of students historically underrepresented in physics. They engage in open-ended physics activities with small groups of children for one hour a week for 8-10 weeks. PISEC was founded on the core principles of the 5D after- school programming model, but focuses on building physics interest and identity for all participants. 5D uses a sociocul- tural model intended to improve general literacy through the use of technology, social interaction and play in an imagina- tive setting [1]. The PISEC program applies the core prin- ciples of the 5D framework and weaves in a physics cur- riculum throughout its structure. Physics activities are pre- sented within a game-like environment that offers children with choices of how to progress through sets of experiments, with opportunities to create their own experiments. An entity known to the students as "Mission Control" provides tools and equipment necessary to complete the activities. Students may interact with Mission Control by reporting their exper- imental findings through science notebooks and by making videos. Mentors are encouraged to co-explore the materials