Michael M. Barger

Students have many beliefs about what it takes to do well in school. In science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, many students hold beliefs that diminish their motivation towards those subjects. Beliefs like “I am not a math person,” and “Science is just about memorizing facts,” can prevent students from succeeding in these important, complex, and interesting fields. My research focuses on how educational beliefs develop in students (e.g., Barger & Linnenbrink-Garcia, 2017; Barger, Wormington, Huettel, & Linnenbrink-Garcia, 2016; Barger, Xiong, & Ferster, 2022), and what parents and teachers can do to foster motivational beliefs that will help students succeed in their current classroom and beyond (e.g., Barger, 2018; Barger, Kim, Kuncel, & Pomerantz, 2019).