Weedy rice gets competitive boost from its wild neighbors

Peer-Reviewed Publication

WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS

 

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WORKING WITH PARTNERS IN CHINA, MALAYSIA AND THAILAND, BIOLOGISTS IN ARTS & SCIENCES AT WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS DETERMINED THAT WEEDY RICE IS CROSSBREEDING WITH WILD RICE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA. HERE, WEEDY RICE RISES TALLER THAN CULTIVATED RICE IN FIELDS IN MALAYSIA. 

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CREDIT: BK SONG

Rice feeds the world. But a look-alike weed has many ways of getting ahead.

Weedy rice is an agricultural pest with a global economic impact. It is an aggressive weed that outcompetes cultivated rice and causes billions of dollars in yield losses worldwide. In the U.S. alone, crop losses attributed to weedy rice could feed an additional 12 million people annually.

A study from Washington University in St. Louis offers new insights into genetic changes that give weedy rice its edge over cultivated rice in tropical regions of the world. Writing in Nature Communications, researchers report that one of weedy rice’s secret weapons is its promiscuity: Weedy rice readily crossbreeds with naturally occurring wild rice that grows nearby.

Biologist Kenneth Olsen, a George William and Irene Koechig Freiberg Professor of Biology in Arts & Sciences, worked with partners in China, Malaysia and Thailand to conduct this research. The scientists analyzed whole-genome sequences from 217 wild, weedy and cultivated rice samples and found that wild rice hybridization with weeds has contributed substantially to the evolution of Southeast Asian weedy rice.

“In the case of rice, the barriers to gene flow between the crop and its wild relatives are quite low compared to other crop species,” Olsen said. “These porous borders in rice can facilitate the evolution and adaptation of weedy crop relatives.”

Overall, the genetic diversity of rice planted in Southeast Asia is higher than in the United States. There is a huge market demand for rice in this part of the world, and climate and environmental factors also play a role in the choices that farmers make when planting rice.

“Farmers in mainland Southeast Asia — including Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam — and most of the island regions of Indonesia, Philippines and parts of Malaysia grow a wide range of lowland and upland rice varieties,” said B.K. Song, a Malaysian weedy rice researcher who is another corresponding author of the new study. “These include modern elite varieties and traditional landraces.”

Southeast Asian rice farmers have moved toward using some of the same mechanized planting technologies that are used by industrial rice farmers in the U.S. today.

But once in the ground, rice seedlings planted in Southeast Asia rub elbows with wild rice plants that are still found alongside cultivated rice fields today. This is something that doesn’t happen in U.S. rice fields.

“The common wild rice progenitor, Oryza rufipogon, is not present in the temperate zones, including the United States, northeastern Asia and Europe,” Song said. “Crossing between cultivated and wild rice in U.S. fields is impossible.”

In their new study, Olsen and his colleagues determined that hybridization between wild rice and weedy rice in Southeast Asia has enabled some weeds to become better adapted as agricultural weeds, giving them a competitive advantage over cultivated rice plants. For example, some of the weeds are highly effective at dispersing their seeds in rice fields because they carry wild rice gene copies that result in freely shattering seeds from the grain stalk.

The genomic results also indicated that Southeast Asian weedy rice has developed its tricks through many different evolutionary pathways running in parallel, including some weeds that de-domesticated, or became feral, after getting a start as cultivated rice, in addition to those that changed as a result of crossing with wild rice.

“Our study highlights how adaptive introgression — in other words, gene flow — from wild species can contribute to agricultural weed evolution,” Olsen said. “We’ve known that this process occurs for some time. But this is the first study to provide a detailed genomic characterization of the phenomenon.

“It’s important to recognize that crop domestication is an incremental evolutionary process, and not a single-step event,” he said. “Likewise, I think we run the risk of oversimplifying the picture by categorizing every rice plant as wild or weed or crop. The true dynamics are much more complex.”

And so, a global battle against weedy rice continues, with as many fronts as there are fields.

Tonapha Pusadee, another study co-author, said: “In Thailand, there are many ways to manage the weedy rice invasion in cultivated rice fields. For example, some farmers cut the panicles or use a chemical to eliminate the weed

When weedy rice and wild rice hybridize, weedy rice can develop freely shattering seed, which gives the weed an advantage. 

CREDIT

BK Song

Weedy rice in Thailand.

CREDIT

Chanya Maneechote

CAPTION

Rice fields in Thailand.

Rice farmers in Thailand.

CREDIT

Kenneth Olsen

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JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-024-45447-0 

ARTICLE TITLE

Porous borders at the wild-crop interface promote weed adaptation in Southeast Asia

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

21-Feb-2024

 

Artificial intelligence recognizes patterns in behaviour

Neuroscientists Create AI Tool To Analyze, Catalogue Behavior

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITATSKLINIKUM BONN

 

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THE OPEN-SOURCE PLATFORM A-SOID DEVELOPED BY RESEARCHERS FROM CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY, THE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL BONN AND THE UNIVERSITY OF BONN CAN LEARN AND PREDICT BEHAVIORS, JUST FROM VIDEO.

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CREDIT: MATTHEW SALYERS/CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, the University Hospital Bonn and the University of Bonn have created an open-source platform known as A-SOiD that can learn and predict user-defined behaviors, just from video. The results of the study have now been published in the journal "Nature Methods".

“This technique works great at learning classifications for a variety of animal and human behaviors,” said Eric Yttri, Eberly Family Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at Carnegie Mellon. “This would not only work on behavior but also the behavior of anything if there are identifiable patterns: stock markets, earthquakes, proteomics. It’s a powerful pattern recognition machine.”

Unlike many artificial intelligence (AI) programs, A-SOiD is not a black box. Instead, the researchers allowed the program to re-learn what it did wrong. They first trained the program with a fraction of the dataset, with a focus on the program’s weaker beliefs. If the program was not certain, the algorithm would reinforce the belief of that training data.

Because A-SOiD was taught to focus on the algorithm’s uncertainty rather than treating all data the same, Alex Hsu, a recent Ph.D. alumnus from Carnegie Mellon, said that it avoids common biases found in other AI models.

AI tool does justice to every class in a data set

“It’s a different way of feeding data in,” Hsu said. “Usually, people go in with the entire data set of whatever behaviors they’re looking for. They rarely understand that the data can be imbalanced, meaning there could be a well-represented behavior in their set and a poorly represented behavior in their set. This bias could then propagate from the prediction process to the experimental findings. Our algorithm takes care of data balancing by only learning from weaker. Our method is better at fairly representing every class in a data set.”

Because A-SOiD is trained in a supervised fashion, it can be very precise. If given a dataset, it can determine the difference between a person’s normal shiver and the tremors of a patient with Parkinson’s disease. It also serves as a complementary method to their unsupervised behavior segmentation platform, B-SOiD, released two years ago.

Besides being an effective program, A-SOiD is highly accessible, capable of running on a normal computer and is available as open source on GitHub.

A-SOiD is accessible for everyone in science

Jens Tillmann, a postdoctoral researcher from the University of Bonn at the University Hospital Bonn, said that the idea of having this program open to all researchers was part of its impact.

“This project wouldn’t have been possible without the open science mindset that both of our labs, but also the entire community of neuroethology have shown in recent years,” Tillmann said. “I am excited to be part of this community and look forward to future collaborative projects with other experts in the field.”

Yttri and Martin K. Schwarz, principal investigator at the University Hospital Bonn and member of the Transdisciplinary Research Areas (TRA) "Life & Health" at the University of Bonn, plan on using A-SOiD in their own labs to further investigate the relationship between the brain and behavior. Yttri plans to use A-SOiD in conjunction with other tools to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying spontaneous behaviors. Schwartz will use A-SOiD in conjunction with other behavioral modalities for a fine-grained analysis of known behaviors in social interactions.

Both Yttri and Schwarz said they hope that A-SOiD will be used by other researchers across disciplines and countries.

“A-SOiD is an important development allowing an AI-based entry into behavioral classification and thus an excellent unique opportunity to better understand the causal relationship between brain activity and behavior,” Schwarz said. “We also hope that the development of A-SOiD will serve as an efficient trigger for forthcoming collaborative research projects focusing on behavioral research in Europe but also across the Atlantic.”

Link to A-SOiD: https://github.com/YttriLab/A-SOID

Promotion:
The research was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG); Project ID 227953431 - SFB 1089 of the University of Bonn.

Publication:
Jens F. Tillmann, Alexander I. Hsu, Martin K. Schwarz and Eric A. Yttri; A-SOiD, an active learning platform for expert-guided, data efficient discovery of behavior; Nature Methods; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-024-02200-1

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JOURNAL

Nature Methods

DOI

10.1038/s41592-024-02200-1 

ARTICLE TITLE

A-SOiD, an active learning platform for expert-guided, data efficient discovery of behavior

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

21-Feb-2024

 

Butterfly and moth genomes mostly unchanged despite 250 million years of evolution

Comparison of over 200 high-quality butterfly and moth genomes reveals key insights into their biology, evolution and diversification Cookie settings over the last 250 million years, as well as clues for conservation.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

WELLCOME TRUST SANGER INSTITUTE

 

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BUTTERFLY FLYING NEXT TO FLOWER

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CREDIT: SAM EBDON / WELLCOME SANGER INSTITUTE

The most extensive analysis of its kind reveals how butterfly and moth chromosomes have remained largely unchanged since their last common ancestor over 250 million years ago. This stability exists despite the incredible diversity seen today in wing patterns, sizes, and caterpillar forms across over 160,000 species globally.

Researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and their collaborators at the University of Edinburgh analysed and compared over 200 high-quality chromosome-level genomes across butterflies and moths to better understand their evolutionary history.

They further uncovered rare groups of species that broke these genetic norms and underwent genetic rearrangements, including chromosome fusions – where two chromosomes merge – and fissions – where a chromosome splits.

The findings, published today (21 February) in Nature Ecology and Evolution, shed light on the tight constraints governing genome evolution in these ecologically vital insects. They also offer insights into factors that have enabled select species to defy these rules of evolution. These insights that can inform and enhance conservation efforts by guiding targeted strategies, monitoring ecosystem health, adapting to climate change, and incorporating genetic information into broader conservation initiatives.

The work is part of the Darwin Tree of Life Project1, aiming to sequence all 70,000 species in Britain and Ireland, and contributes to the larger Earth BioGenome Project to sequence all 1.6 million named species on Earth2.

The study raises broader questions about how chromosomal changes shape biodiversity over time. The researchers will continue focused efforts to sequence all 11,000 European butterfly and moth species as part of the newly launched Project Psyche3.

Butterflies and moths - collectively called Lepidoptera - represent 10 per cent of all described animal species and are hugely important pollinators and herbivores in many ecosystems.

In this new study, researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and their collaborators set out to understand the processes that drive the evolution of chromosomes of this highly diverse group.

They identified 32 ancestral chromosome building blocks, named "Merian elements" after the pioneering 17th century entomologist Maria Sibylla Merian4, that have stayed intact across most butterfly and moth species since their last common ancestor over 250 million years ago.

With the exception of a single ancient fusion event between two chromosomes that led to the 31 chromosomes seen in most species today5, chromosomes of most current species directly correspond to these ancestral Merian elements. The team found not only were chromosomes incredibly stable, but the order of genes within them was too.

The team found some species with minor changes, mainly involving fusions of small autosomes6 and the sex chromosome. This highlights the role of chromosome length as a driver of evolutionary change.

However, researchers uncovered a rare subset of species such as the blue butterflies – Lysandra – and the group containing cabbage white butterflies – Pieris – that have defied these genome structure constraints. These groups underwent extensive chromosome reshuffling, including breakage of chromosomes, and large scale reshuffling through fission and fusion.

The work increases understanding of factors that lead to genetic diversity within these insects. This can guide efforts to protect and preserve specific species facing unique challenges and environmental changes tied to climate change.

Charlotte Wright, first author of the study at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: “The chromosomes of most butterflies and moths living today can be traced directly back to the 32 ancestral Merian elements that were present 250 million years ago. It is striking that despite species diversifying extensively, their chromosomes have remained remarkably intact. This challenges the idea that stable chromosomes may limit species diversification. Indeed, this feature might be a base for building diversity. We hope to find clues in rare groups that have evaded these rules.”

Professor Mark Blaxter, senior author of the study and Head of the Tree of Life programme at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: “Studies like this, which allow us to delve into these evolutionary processes, are only possible with initiatives like the Darwin Tree of Life project generating high-quality, publicly available genome assemblies. We are amplifying these efforts in Project Psyche, aiming to sequence all 11,000 butterfly and moth species in Europe with collaborators across the continent. As vital pollinators, herbivores, and food sources of various ecosystems, as well as powerful indicators of ecosystem health, a deeper understanding of butterfly and moth biology through Project Psyche will inform future studies on adaptation and speciation for biodiversity conservation.”

ENDS

Contact details:
Jelena Pupavac
Press Office
Wellcome Sanger Institute
Cambridge, CB10 1SA
Email: press.office@sanger.ac.uk

Notes to Editors:

1. This work is part of the Darwin Tree of Life project aiming to sequence the genomes of 70,000 species of eukaryotic organisms in Britain and Ireland. It is a collaboration between biodiversity, genomics and analysis partners that is transforming the way we do biology, conservation and biotechnology. https://www.darwintreeoflife.org/
2. The Earth BioGenome Project is a global network of initiatives and institutes ultimately aiming to sequence all 1.6 million named species on the planet, to drive solutions for preserving biodiversity. https://www.earthbiogenome.org/
3. Project Psyche will sequence the genomes of all 11,000 European Lepidopteran species, helping to conserve, protect and drive innovation. https://www.projectpsyche.org/
4. For more information on the life of entomologist Maria Sibylla Merian https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/animals/maria-sibylla-merian-pioneering-artist-flora-and-fauna
5. This happened on the evolutionary branch leading to Ditrysia, the most diverse Lepidoptera group, containing over 98 per cent of all described species of butterflies and moths.
6. Autosomes are the non-sex chromosomes carrying genetic information that influences traits such as colouration and wing pattern, distinct from those determining the insect's sex.

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JOURNAL

Nature Ecology & Evolution

DOI

10.1038/s41559-024-02329-4 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Comparative genomics reveals the dynamics of chromosome evolution in Lepidoptera

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

21-Feb-2024

 

Climate change increases the risk of preterm births by 60% and will devastate children’s health without fast global action

Increased numbers of preterm births, higher incidence of respiratory disease and death, and more children in hospitals are some of the stark health outcomes the world is facing from the impacts of extreme climate change.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FLINDERS UNIVERSITY

 

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IMPACT OF TEMPERATURE EXTREMES ON CHILDREN'S HEALTH. CREDIT: FLINDERS UNIVERSITY.

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CREDIT: IMPACT OF TEMPERATURE EXTREMES ON CHILDREN'S HEALTH. CREDIT: FLINDERS UNIVERSITY.

Increased numbers of preterm births, higher incidence of respiratory disease and death, and more children in hospitals are some of the stark health outcomes the world is facing from the impacts of extreme climate change.

This morbid reality will devastate children’s health for generations without global action, according to alarming new research.

Scientists have spent decades warning the world about the risks of extreme temperatures, floods, and bushfires, but this new study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment is the first to collect all the available scientific evidence for the effects of climate change on children’s health.

The data identified which particular climate-driven extremes are linked to certain detrimental health impacts for future generations.

The study led by Dr Lewis Weeda, a researcher with The University of Western Australia and the Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre at Telethon Kids Institute , and Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology, Corey Bradshaw, from Flinders University shows that the risk of a preterm birth will increase by 60% on average from exposure to extreme temperatures.

The researchers reviewed the results of 163 health studies from around the world to inform planning by governments that could mitigate and improve health outcomes for future generations against the impacts of climate change.

Professor Corey Bradshaw said the global data have revealed a worrying increase in preterm birth rates that could cause lifelong complications for millions of children around the world.

“We’ve crunched the data to show how certain types of future weather events will worsen particular medical issues in the population,” he said.

“We identified many direct links between climate change and child health, the strongest of which was a 60% increased risk on average of preterm birth from exposure to temperature extremes. Respiratory diseases, mortality, and morbidity, among others, were also made worse by climate change.

“The effects of different air pollutants on children’s health outcomes were smaller compared to temperature effects, but most pollutants still had an effect of some type, so the news is concerning. The children’s health issues we identified depend on weather extremes — cold extremes give rise to respiratory diseases, while drought and extreme rainfall can result in stunted growth for a population.”

Most of the analysed studies were in high-income nations, despite the fact that children in lower-income countries are most likely to go without adequate access to healthcare, infrastructure, and stable food supply.

The research revealed that even advanced economies would not avoid the impacts of climate change on children’s health. The researchers warn that health risks vary across continents and depend on socio-economic circumstances.

“Given that climate influences childhood disease, social and financial costs will continue to rise as climate change progresses, placing increasing pressure on families and health services. For example, asthma has been estimated to cost as much as US$1.5 billion due to a single fire season in the future, while another study estimated the costs of a single case of childhood asthma at up to US$23,573 in the coming years,” Professor Bradshaw said.

Geography also dictated the health impacts of climate change according to the research. For example, in Australia, extreme temperatures have led to an increase in premature births on the East Coast, Northern Territory, and Western Australia and enhanced respiratory issues in Queensland, while similar temperatures have caused higher mortality rates in South Africa.  

Dr Weeda said action is required to protect children from climate-related disease.

“Our research recognises some important areas where children are most vulnerable to climate change,” he said. “The development of public health policies to counter these climate-related diseases, alongside efforts to reduce anthropogenic climate change, must be addressed if we are to protect current and future children.”

“Finding solutions and implementing climate adaptation and mitigation policies would positively impact multiple United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Climate change is universal and adversely affecting all countries and people, and we must prepare societies for mounting threats to child health.”

CAPTION

Climate change impacts on children's health based on geographic location. Credit: Flinders University.

CREDIT

Flinders University

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JOURNAL

Science of The Total Environment

DOI

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170944 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

How climate change degrades child health: A systematic review and meta-analysis

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

21-Feb-2024

 

Death and grief in Swedish children’s books

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UPPSALA UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: 

FROM THE BOOK "BLÅ UGGLAN" BY LOTTA GEFFENBLAD (2023) WITH PERMISSION. IMAGE: LOTTA GEFFENBLAD, ILLUSTRATOR. CONTACT: LOTTAGEFFENBLAD.SE

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CREDIT: LOTTA GEFFENBLAD

Death is blue, or a flying animal. This is how death is most commonly illustrated in Swedish children’s literature, according to a new study from Uppsala University based on analyses of 62 books. Just six out of ten books use the word ‘dead’, which may be a problem.

“The actual word ‘dead’ comes up in about two thirds of the books. The others use metaphors such as ‘fell asleep’ or ‘passed away’, which can make it difficult for children to understand and can even scare them. For example, a child could be afraid of sleeping, because someone who has ‘fallen asleep’ hasn’t come back,” says Rakel Eklund, PhD, specialist nurse and the researcher behind the study.

In her work as a researcher on children’s grief, she often recommends adults to read books with children to help them begin talking about potentially difficult topics, such as death. To obtain a better overview of the existing literature, she enlisted a librarian at Uppsala City Library to help her search for books on the subject. They found 110 titles and Eklund considered 62 of them suitable for her study. She analysed hard facts such as author, publisher and date, as well as what the stories showed about the causes of death, funerals, the main character and the characteristics of the person who dies. The study also includes the process of grief following death. She has investigated the words used to describe death, grief and the person who has died.

A few conclusions from the study: 

Usually it is a pet or an older relative such as a grandparent who dies. Half the books mention causes of death, generally stillbirth or old age. The main character generally learns that someone has died by their mother telling them. 

Most of the books include a grieving process. The most common way for the main character to cope with grief and other emotions is to be with family and friends and remember the deceased person together. 

“It’s important to give the reader a chance to follow the grieving process. This can teach children that grieving is something that comes and goes in life and that grief doesn’t suddenly disappear or pass. The books I have looked at stand out in comparison with similar books from other European countries. Previous studies have indicated that far fewer children’s books there describe a grieving process.” 

Eklund thinks it is a good thing there are so many children’s books dealing with death, from different angles. One perspective she finds is lacking is stories where it is the child itself who is dying. Previous research shows that dying children want to have honest and open information about their own illness and impending death. Only four of the books analysed describe this process.

“Since one purpose of the books is to help children to cope and to talk about death and grief, more books describing preparation for one’s own death are needed. This would make it easier for both children and their parents and other significant adults reading to the child to have meaningful conversations about death and dying from the perspective of the dying person.”

In cases where the books include funerals, they follow the Christian tradition with a church, a priest and a coffin. None of the books offered a perspective from any other world religion. 

“It’s problematic that the only religion reflected is Christianity. Death and grief are closely bound up with religious issues as they make us wonder why we live, why we die and what the meaning of it all is. Our society contains more philosophies of life and religions, and many people have beliefs of their own or no beliefs. I think children’s book editors, publishers and authors of children’s books have work to do here,” Eklund says. 

CAPTION

From the book "Blå ugglan" by Lotta Geffenblad (2023) with permission. Image: Lotta Geffenblad, illustrator. contact: lottageffenblad.se

CREDIT

Lotta Geffenblad

From the book "Blå ugglan" (Blue owl) by Lotta Geffenblad (2023) with permission. Image: Lotta Geffenblad lottageffenblad.se

CREDIT

lottageffenblad.se

Rakel Eklund, PhD, researcher and specialist nurse, Department of Women's and Children’s Health, Uppsala University, Sweden, email: rakel.eklund@uu.se, phone: +46-73-469 75 76

CREDIT

Isak Eklund

Rakel Eklund (2024) Death and grief in illustrated storybooks: an inventory of Swedish literature for young children, Death Studies (Taylor & Francis), DOI: 10.1080/07481187.2024.2317167, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07481187.2024.2317167

Other research by Rakel Eklund in progress (Swedish): www.ungisorg.se, www.minsorg.com

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JOURNAL

Death Studies

DOI

10.1080/07481187.2024.2317167 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Literature review

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Death and grief in illustrated storybooks: an inventory of Swedish literature for young children

 

Teachers’ growth mindset appears more important than warmth

Peer-Reviewed Publication

WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY

PULLMAN, Wash. -- Students tend to like friendly teachers, but they like those who believe they can improve even more, new research indicates.

Students in a study still responded positively to instructors described as being cold but who also had a growth mindset, meaning they felt students’ ability in a subject could improve by working hard and trying different strategies. The opposite was also true: more participants reacted negatively to a warm, smiling teacher when they stated a fixed mindset, which is a belief that innate abilities cannot be changed, such as someone being naturally good at math.

“It's not enough to just be nice,” said lead author Makita White, a Washington State University psychology Ph.D. candidate. “If teachers can change their demeanor to be warmer, it does have a good impact, but it’s a lot better to convey a growth mindset than a fixed mindset to students.”

Previous research has noted that students tend to view teachers who have growth mindsets as friendly and warm, so this proof-of-concept study, published in the journal Motivation Science, was designed to evaluate those factors separately.

The study participants still responded best to an instructor described as both friendly and having a growth mindset. However, a “cold” instructor with a growth mindset still saw a greater positive response than a “warm” one with a fixed mindset.

This indicates that teachers might consider their mindset more important than their demeanor, said Elizabeth Canning, a WSU psychology researcher. 

“At a very simple level, being friendly is good, but the mindset messages that you send students are really important. They can be even more powerful than just being friendly or welcoming to students,” said Canning, the senior author on the paper. 

For this study, researchers presented 332 college students with one of four vignettes describing a statistics professor with different demeanors and mindsets. The students then answered a series of questions about what they thought of the professor and the class they taught, including their comfort level taking the course and how well they thought they would perform.

In the growth mindset scenarios, the professor stated that “any student can learn the material” if they worked hard, learned from mistakes and sought help when needed. In the fixed mindset vignettes, the professor said that some students had “a natural gift in statistics” while other students might struggle if they weren’t a “stats person.”

Whether instructors were described as being “very warm and friendly” or staring blankly and making students nervous, the scenarios that had professors stating a growth mindset had a much more positive response from the students. They reported they would have a greater sense of belonging in the class, lower “imposter” feelings and a better chance of doing well in the course.

Growth mindset is often touted as an advantage in relation to education. However, most prior research has focused on students’ motivational beliefs with only recent attention to the instructors’ mindsets. In addition to this study, Canning’s lab has done work indicating that instructors with growth mindsets can narrow performance gaps for traditionally disadvantaged groups. For instance, instructors with fixed mindsets were found in one study to undermine women’s performance in STEM courses and in another created a greater racial achievement gap than in courses taught by those with growth mindsets.

“When you only focus on the students’ mindset, it can lead to blaming the student, so if they're not performing well, you can tell yourself that they just don't have the right mindset,” she said. “By looking at how the mindset of instructors and culture are affecting students, it may take some of the onus off the students themselves. Instead, we can focus more on how we can make the environment motivating and conducive, so that everybody can be successful in that class.”

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JOURNAL

Motivation Science

DOI

10.1037/mot0000322