Stanford
SPARQ

Parenting

The SPARQ Solutions Catalog is an online library of scientifically tested fixes to a wide variety of social issues and conflicts.

Easily searchable and practitioner-focused, it provides a curated set of evidence-based behavioral nudges in education, health, law & justice, peace & conflict, relationships, parenting, and the environment.

Civil Society Conflict Resolution Criminal Justice Economic Development Education Environment  Health Parenting Relationships

A Growth Mindset Helps Girls Learn Math

Scan of a brain

Problem: In math and science, women and girls trail behind their male peers. 

Solution: Teaching girls that intelligence is a skill they can develop over time, rather than a trait they are born with, helps them earn higher grades in math.

Education, Parenting

The Right Mindset Raises Grades

Students take an exam

Problem: Many kids’ grades fall when they make the transition from elementary to middle school.  

Solution: Teaching middle-school students to think of intelligence as a skill they can develop over time, rather than a talent they were born with (or not), helps them persist in the face of setbacks and earn better grades.

Education, Parenting

Empowering Parents Reduces Abuse

Sad looking boy

Problem: Each year in the United States, some 700,000 children are abused and neglected, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Many of these children will grow up to have poorer health, lower incomes, and worse jobs than their peers who were not abused and neglected. 

Solution: Training parents to interpret childrearing challenges as problems they can solve, rather than as evidence that they or their children are bad people, reduces child abuse.

Parenting

Parents Turn Teens to Math and Science

Students studying
 

Problem: American schools do not produce enough scientists, mathematicians, and engineers to meet the needs of 21st century workplaces. 

Solution: With a little guidance, parents can increase how many advanced math and science classes their teenagers take.

Education, Parenting