Inspirational role models and student achievement: Evidence from a randomised experiment in India
Abstract
Internal constraints are barriers for academic performance. I evaluate a low-cost role models intervention delivered through a short film featuring fictitious but highly relatable protagonists. Using a randomized controlled trial conducted among 452 grade-4 students in private schools in India, I examine the effects on students’ hope, effort, and academic performance. Students are randomly assigned to watch a short-film that is produced as a part of the experiment. The intervention leads to immediate and sustained increases in students’ hope and effort. English test scores improve by 0.11 standard deviations six weeks after exposure. I also find suggestive evidence of longer-run improvements in Mathematics exam performance two years later, but these estimates should be interpreted with caution due to attrition and pandemic-related disruptions. The findings suggest that carefully designed role model interventions can meaningfully shift student behaviour and improve educational outcomes at low cost.
RCT registry: https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/4454
Media:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z0BCaZ-VEQ&t=63s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33gR1xA4zAU&t=137s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ceg8-u8dlF8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkqBR7ql5M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJtgUrMvcXY&t=1s
Reflection and mental health: Experimental evidence from Germany (with J. Wen and J. Vornberger)
Abstract
Despite increasing mental health problems and an existing care gap among university students, cost-effective solutions to bridge this gap are still lacking. Using a reflection intervention, we conduct a randomized controlled trial with undergraduate students in Germany. As part of a thought experiment, the treatment group reflected for ten minutes on questions related to stressors and their remedies. Combining survey and administrative data we find a significant improvement in students’ mindful behavior, mental health and well-being as well as perseverance in performance. Our results show the self-empowering potential of a low-cost soft-touch intervention in students to aid their mindful behavior, mental health and well-being as well as performance and thus demonstrate one way universities as institutions can provide support.
RCT registry: https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/10277
Role models, edutainment, and virtual tours: Experimental evidence from India (with J. Wen)
Abstract
We test the impact of an audio-visual learning tool on a cohort of primary school students in India. In a randomised controlled trial, we split a sample of students into two treatment groups and a pure control group. Students in the first treatment group were exposed to a short virtual tour of statues of role models. The other group watched a video on the same role models comprising of their images from the curriculum. Both arms had an identical audio narrative. Immediately after the 6-minute intervention, students from the virtual tour treatment performed better than the image-based treatment and control group in a memory test. We detect improvements in academic performance in Math and Computer for the virtual tour group after a month. These effects reduce in size but they are sustained after 6-months.
RCT registry: https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/8055
The time sensitivity of aspirational interventions: evidence from a role-modeling RCT (with J. Wen, D. Turchet, and M. Schröder)
Abstract
This paper investigates the short-run effects of an aspiration-raising intervention delivered via a randomized controlled trial among postgraduate students at a UK university during the Covid-19 pandemic. A video-based role-modelling intervention led to an immediate increase in aspirations and a delayed increase in self-reported effort. However, both effects dissipated within a few weeks. Our findings suggest that timing and reinforcement are important considerations for the sustained effectiveness of aspiration-building strategies.
RCT registry: https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/6520
Building agency and bridging inequalities in school: evidence from Universal Growth Curriculum (UGrow) in India (with Christina Felfe)
Fostering agency and inclusion in schools through recognition and reflection: evidence from India
Labour market and mental health: Evidence from China (with Jinglin Wen)