Research Article Museums as an Avenue for Enhancing Engagement and Educational Outcomes for Underserved Students Susan Elswick 1 and Elena Delavega 1 Abstract Museums are the places where we hold treasures for display and study and where learning on a broad range of subjects can occur. However, for many marginalized populations, museums feel off-limits and inaccessible. There is evidence and research to support that exposing “at-risk” youth to programming within museums has a positive and lasting effect across multiple life domains. This article will review one specific museum-based pilot program as an intervention for improving outcomes for “at-risk” youth across domains of self-efficacy and knowledge in the field of science and education. Outcomes as well as recommendations for future replications will be shared. Keywords museums, educational outcomes, marginalized students, social work Exploring Museums as an Avenue for Enhancing Student Engagement Technology has come to dominate everyday life in the 21st century, and as a result, there is an increased focus on science education and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)-based programming throughout the United States. As we become an increasingly technological-based society, education becomes increasingly important (Bloom & Mintz, 1990). Addressing science education needs takes on new urgency as resources have not been dedicated to science education in the recent past. This is especially worrisome in schools serving Latinos (Bassman & Harris, 2007). Latinos perform lower in schools than other groups and are graduating from college at much lower rates than Caucasian and African American students (Snyder & Dillow, 2011). There is a growing body of research that supports out-of- school STEM learning, or more formally known as learning science in informal environments (LSIE), as an effective teaching method to engage student learners in the field of STEM (National Research Council, 2009). The goal of this research is to introduce low-income children to a world to which they may have never been exposed through an out- of-school STEM program hosted at a local museum. Many of the children who attend local targeted inner-city public schools within the local community have never been inside a museum. Visiting museums is a crucial component of this project and intervention because it takes children to a beauti- ful world and lets them know that if they study science, that beautiful world can be theirs. This project not only makes science real but also opens the students’ eyes to possibilities they may not have imagined. This goal of this experiential museum project is to inform the local public school that the use of LSIE and out-of-school STEM programming can have a positive effect on (a) improv- ing the science curriculum while maintaining student interest and focusing on state-level testing objectives and (b) providing students from a traditionally marginalized and underserved population with the same opportunities for enrichment and exposure to the wider world that more fortunate students take for granted. This project was a pilot intervention seeking to increase student motivation to learn science and to foster higher scores on standardized science tests among students in a pre- dominantly poor Latino elementary school (ES) in a local urban school district. Literature Review Upon examining the evidence, it appears that high educational attainment within the field of science is achievable by the majority of children; however, gaps currently exist in science education outcomes between cultural, ethnic, linguistic, socio- economic status, and racial groups. This is the result of unequal 1 School of Social Work, University of Memphis, TN, USA Corresponding Author: Susan Elswick, School of Social Work, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152, USA. Email: selswick@memphis.edu Research on Social Work Practice 1-9 ª The Author(s) 2020 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/1049731520936762 journals.sagepub.com/home/rsw