What Scientists’ Failures Teach Students Showing the failures behind success can change how students see science. Excellent Educator, 3(17), 1, 2026 🔬 Research in Brief Researchers studied 402 students in Grades 9 and 10 who read stories about eminent scientists. Some students read about scientists’ intellectual struggles and mistakes, others about their personal struggles, while
Your Classmates Shape How You Learn What classmates do can quietly motivate students Excellent Educator, 3(17), 2, 2026 🔬 Research in Brief Researchers first explored students’ experiences through focus groups and then conducted an experiment with 605 undergraduate students. They identified seven peer behaviours that can signal a fixed or growth mindset: self-deprecation, withdrawing effort,
Why Student Motivation Keeps Changing A student can be motivated or disengaged depending on what happens in between. Excellent Educator, 3(17), 3, 2026 🔬 Research in Brief A systematic review examined 80 empirical studies of situational motivation in academic learning. The researchers found that motivation is shaped by the learning context and can vary both
The Question Students Need When Stuck Motivation may improve when students learn to ask themselves a better question. Excellent Educator, 3(17), 4, 2026 🔬 Research in Brief A study of 7,475 adolescent and adult students examined a “strategic mindset”: the tendency to ask questions such as “What can I do to get better at this?”
Students Need Freedom With Structure Giving students choice does not mean leaving them on their own. Excellent Educator, 3(17), 5, 2026 🔬 Research in Brief A systematic review and meta-analysis examined 94 studies and 110 effect sizes on teacher autonomy support and the provision of classroom structure. The central finding was clear: autonomy support and
