One online lesson on growing your brain did not lift girls' drive or grades
No differenceThe short version
One online lesson on how your brain grows did not lift girls' drive or confidence more than a health lesson.
- 222
- rural teenage girls in the US
- Randomised
- groups picked at random
- Self-rated
- people rated themselves
- 2 tools
- tested
The study
Who took part
222 girls in 10th grade, about 15 on average, from four rural, low-income high schools in the southeastern US. 115 got the mindset lesson and 107 got a different online programme.
What they did
The mindset group did one online session of about 45 minutes on their own. It taught that brains, self-control and personality can change. It gave tips from role-model students, and each part ended with a short writing task. The other group did an online sex-education programme of about the same length.
What happened
Both groups rated their drive and confidence to learn about the same. This held right after the lesson and four months later, and grades didn't differ either. The lesson did make girls more sure that ability can grow. The paper's look at how the lesson worked doesn't fit together cleanly.
What the study found
- No differenceMotivation
One online lesson on how your brain grows did not lift girls' drive or confidence more than a health lesson.
Randomised trial of 222 rural teenage girls in the US · vs an online sex-education programme of similar length · they rated themselves · ⚠ numbers unreliable
- No differenceGoals
The same lesson did no better than the health lesson for school grades.
Randomised trial of 222 rural teenage girls in the US · vs an online sex-education programme of similar length · they rated themselves · ⚠ numbers unreliable
How solid is this?
- Groups picked at random
- People rated themselves
- Numbers unreliable
Source
An online growth mindset intervention in a sample of rural adolescent girls (2017)
DOI: 10.1111/bjep.12192 (opens in a new tab)
