5_1 : Lin-Sieglet Even Einstein Struggled

Question 1

What happened in Lin-Singler et al.’s study when students were told of scientists’ struggles?

Answer 1

Students felt more connected to scientists

Question 2

What questions did the author set out to answer?

Answer 2

1: Compare effects of intellectual and life struggles

2: Examine effects on students’ motivation

3: Examine effects on students with different performance levels

Question 3

How did the authors go about studying their research questions? (N, IV, DV)

Answer 3

N = 402 9th and 10th graders

-Each student Read 3 stories about scientists (Einstein, Curie, Faraday)

IV: 3 groups where in all 3 stories scientists either
1. Struggled intellectually
2. Struggled in personal life
3. Made great discoveries (control)

DV
.Motivation battery** (pre and post-intervention)
- Beliefs about intelligence and effort
- Goal orientation
- attribution after failure scenario

.Science class grades (pre and post-intervention)

. Feelings of connection to stories or scientists

Question 4

What did they find?

Answer 4

Results: Motivation**

• No difference in pretest across groups
• No effect of intervention on motivation measures
  
  • beliefs about intelligence and effort
  • goal orientation
  • attributions after failure scenario

Results of grades**

• No difference in pretest across groups
• both struggle stories (science and personal) led to higher posttests relative to the normal
• Interaction with pre-intervention grades:
  
  • Big difference in kids who started with bad grades
  • no difference for kids who started with good grades

Results of connection**

• Ss in both conditions felt more connected to scientists than Ss in control (success story)
• Qualitative results; struggle stories appeared to reveal scientists vulnerability

Question 5

Why should we care?

Answer 5

There’s a myth that scientists don’t struggle
- Textbooks emphasize this

• This myth might be preventing some Ss from doing well in science and pursuing it further

Question 6

What are the common myths about scientists?

Answer 6

-Success in science depends on exceptional talents

-Scientists are geniuses that work hard

Question 7

What was the goal of the study?

Answer 7

-To teach a growth mindset with respect to achieving success as a scientist

-Show that there is a struggle in success