Descriptions of out-of-school time (OST) programs frequently claim to promote visitor/participant interest, but information about which design features are essential for that task are lacking. We report on a meta-analysis of research conducted in OST programs that assessed visitor/participant interest. Search criteria identified a total of 38 studies (k = 77 independent datasets), published between 1998 and 2019. The total sample size was N_pre = 23,883 visitors/participants at pretest and N_post = 22,419 visitors/participants at posttest. Study findings suggest that there is a positive but trivial effect of OST programs on interest development (Hedges’ g = 0.08). This appears to be explained by the fact that studies of OST typically do not distinguish between program features designed to promote an initial triggering of interest and the subsequent development and deepening of interest, nor do they clarify differences in the interest they were assessing in the 1-day visit/experience relative to what would be expected in the year-long afterschool program. Results further indicate that changes in interest assessed in OST may be positively moderated by the approach to (and measurement of) interest studied, as well as by program features such as whether they provide multidisciplinary offerings and designed programing that is independent of school, tutor facilitated, had trained educators, and lasted a significant period of time.

课外时间 (OST) 计划的描述经常声称可以提高访客/参与者的兴趣，但缺乏有关哪些设计功能对该任务至关重要的信息。我们报告了在 OST 项目中进行的评估访问者/参与者兴趣的研究的元分析。搜索标准确定了 1998 年至 2019 年间发表的总共 38 项研究（k = 77 个独立数据集）。总样本量为N _pre  = 23,883 名_前测访问者/参与者和N _post  = 22,419 名访问者/后测参与者。研究结果表明，OST 计划对兴趣发展有积极但微不足道的影响（Hedges' g = 0.08）。这似乎是由于对 OST 的研究通常不区分旨在促进兴趣的初始触发和随后的发展和加深兴趣的计划特征，也没有澄清他们在 1 中评估的兴趣的差异。 - 与为期一年的课后计划预期内容相关的日间访问/体验。结果进一步表明，在 OST 中评估的兴趣变化可能会受到所研究兴趣的方法（和测量）以及计划特征的积极调节，例如他们是否提供多学科课程和设计的独立于学校的计划，导师促进，受过培训的教育工作者，并持续了很长一段时间。