Writing about how science is useful helped students who expected to do poorly

The study

1. 01

   Who took part

   262 high school students from two schools in a small Midwestern US city, taught by seven science teachers. Most were ninth-graders, and just over half were female.

2. 02

   What they did

   Students were randomly put into one of two groups within each class. One group wrote about how the course material is useful in their own lives, and the other wrote summaries of it. Students wrote about 5 essays each on average, from 1 to 8, handed in every 3 or 4 weeks.

3. 03

   What happened

   Students who expected to do poorly reported more interest in science than the summary group did. Their grades were nearly two-thirds of a letter grade higher, but only one school's grades were available, for about 100 students. Students who expected to do well showed no clear difference.

What the study found

1. HelpedMotivation

   Students who expected to do poorly, then wrote about how science is useful to them, were more interested in it.

   • Action: List the benefits of finishingtested

   Randomised trial of 262 high school science students · vs students who wrote summaries of the course material · they rated themselves

2. HelpedGoals

   Students who expected to do poorly, then wrote about how science is useful to them, got higher grades.

   • Action: List the benefits of finishingtested

   Randomised trial of 262 high school science students · vs students who wrote summaries of the course material · they rated themselves

Source