New research from social scientists has revealed that telling kids stories of real-life "superheroes" and "geniuses" is a good idea—if you go about it in the right way. In these studies, "[r]esearchers found that students perform better in science where they read stories about how famous scientists struggled rather than when they read stories about what those scientists achieved."

If students are only told about the successes and accomplishments of such figures as Albert Einstein or Marie Curie, there's a greater chance they will feel insecure about their own abilities: "it's actually counterproductive to say scientists are geniuses because kids are going to say … I could never do that." However, when students were given more nuanced stories of scientists' obstacles and struggles, they "improved their science grades more significantly than people who read achievement [stories]."

Possible Preaching Angle:

As we strive to follow and know our God, we can be grateful that he uses imperfect people—and in the Bible, we have plenty of examples of men and women who struggled to walk with God.

Source:

Shankar Vedantam, “How Stories Told Of Brilliant Scientists Affect Kids' Interest In The Field,” NPR (7-7-16)