Research shows girls tend to underperform relative to boys on spatial-thinking tasks (e.g., map wayfinding, mental rotation). This gap closes remarkably easily with game-based training, suggesting it's an exposure/practice gap rather than an ability gap.

This finding emerged from an exploratory research phase in a behavioral change class, where the assignment was to identify a real, behavior-driven problem worth solving. The idea that a seemingly stubborn skill gap could close through something as simple as a game made it a compelling target for a small intervention with outsized impact.