{"id":581525,"date":"2026-08-03T09:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T09:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/581525\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T09:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T09:42:09","slug":"the-genius-narrative-isnt-inspiring-science-biographies-for-children-may-send-a-demotivating-message-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/581525\/","title":{"rendered":"The genius narrative isn\u2019t inspiring \u2013 science biographies for children may send a demotivating message | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Two<\/p>\n

Many \u2018inspirational\u2019 science biographies could be conveying demotivating messages to children, new research has found.<\/p>\n

Biographical science books are a popular way of sparking children\u2019s interest in science: highlighting diverse role models can help science feel accessible and relatable to all. However, the portrayal of these individuals and their stories can influence the motivational message that children take away from these biographies, in some cases even reinforcing stereotypes.<\/p>\n

Building on previous work looking at Stem role models, Jessica Gladstone<\/a> at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and her team evaluated the implicit messages in 422 bestselling children\u2019s science biographies. The study encompassed 655 individual protagonists across a mix of identities \u2013 59% male versus 41% female, and 76% white to 24% ethnic minority \u2013 representing a cross-section of the most popular books currently on the market. They ranked the portrayals of each protagonist\u2019s ability and interest (innate or developed), and the reason for their ultimate success (hard work or talent), combining these factors to determine whether the overall message was inspiring or demotivating.<\/p>\n

Scientists\u2019 ability was represented as a fairly even mixture of inherent genius and cultivated skill, with interest overwhelming portrayed as fixed from a young age \u2013 a seemingly reasonable depiction of reality on the face of it.<\/p>\n

However, notes Gladstone, where these fixed and growth mindset messages are mixed, people tend to focus exclusively on the former, creating the false perception that scientific success often relies on innate talent and lifelong interest. \u2018Psychology research demonstrates that when kids hear fixed mindsets about ability, that\u2019s really demotivating for kids who just don\u2019t feel super confident in their abilities,\u2019 she explains. Interest likewise follows the same line of logic, with innate interest from childhood alienating those who do not yet feel a strong connection to science.<\/p>\n

The analysis found that women were far more likely to have their success attributed to hard work than talent, even accounting for the additional obstacles female scientists historically faced. This analysis, particularly how they approached barriers to women without over-representing them, was excellent, says Claire Murray<\/a>, a science communicator. \u2018I\u2019m not surprised by these findings but I would say I\u2019m a little bit devastated. It\u2019s not a great message to women. You\u2019re going to have to work a lot harder, you may not be recognised even if you do, and you\u2019re going to face barriers at every stage. It\u2019s not going to make all of our smart, amazing girls feel that they can be scientists.\u2019<\/p>\n

Of course, any science biography must accurately represent the protagonist\u2019s life and some famous scientists simply were innately talented or fascinated from birth, says Gladstone. But it\u2019s also about how we frame these individuals and which aspects of their stories we choose to highlight, she adds. \u2018There must be a way to acknowledge that these people are very smart but also talk about how they got there in a way that feels more relatable and attainable for most kids.\u2019<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not at all to say that these books are bad, she adds, and in particular these stories could be used to begin conversations around what it means to be successful in Stem fields, and normalise the failure which forms an integral part of that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many \u2018inspirational\u2019 science biographies could be conveying demotivating messages to children, new research has found. Biographical science books…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":581526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[61,60,82],"class_list":["post-581525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}