Challenge may elucidate beliefs: A growth mindset better predicts academic success in difficult courses

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric N. Smith ◽  
Carissa Romero ◽  
David Paunesku
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Growth Mindset

scholarly journals Growing a growth mindset: characterizing how and why undergraduate students’ mindsets change

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa B. Limeri ◽  
Nathan T. Carter ◽  
Jun Choe ◽  
Hannah G. Harper ◽  
Hannah R. Martin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Academic Performance ◽  
Academic Success ◽  
Student Success ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Growth Mindset ◽  
Academic Experiences ◽  
Five Factors ◽  
Stem Students ◽  
Upper Level ◽  
Survey Responses

Abstract Background The extent to which students view their intelligence as improvable (i.e., their “mindset”) influences students’ thoughts, behaviors, and ultimately their academic success. Thus, understanding the development of students’ mindsets is of great interest to education scholars working to understand and promote student success. Recent evidence suggests that students’ mindsets continue to develop and change during their first year of college. We built on this work by characterizing how mindsets change and identifying the factors that may be influencing this change among upper-level STEM students. We surveyed 875 students in an organic chemistry course at four points throughout the semester and interviewed a subset of students about their mindsets and academic experiences. Results Latent growth modeling revealed that students tended to shift towards viewing intelligence as a stable trait (i.e., shifted towards a stronger fixed mindset and a weaker growth mindset). This trend was particularly strong for students who persistently struggled in the course. From qualitative analysis of students’ written survey responses and interview transcripts, we determined that students attribute their beliefs about intelligence to five factors: academic experiences, observing peers, deducing logically, taking societal cues, and formal learning. Conclusions Extensive prior research has focused on the influence of mindset on academic performance. Our results corroborate this relationship and further suggest that academic performance influences students’ mindsets. Thus, our results imply that mindset and academic performance constitute a positive feedback loop. Additionally, we identified factors that influence undergraduates’ mindset beliefs, which could be leveraged by researchers and practitioners to design more persuasive and effective mindset interventions to promote student success.

scholarly journals Testing Basic Assumptions Reveals When (Not) to Expect Mindset and Belonging Interventions to Succeed

AERA Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 233285842096699
Author(s):  
Peter McPartlan ◽  
Sabrina Solanki ◽  
Di Xu ◽  
Brian Sato
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Low Income ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Growth Mindset ◽  
Underrepresented Minority ◽  
Low Income Students ◽  
Basic Assumptions ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Social Belonging ◽  
College Setting

In this case study, we investigated the effectiveness of growth mindset and social belonging interventions in a college setting with large numbers of traditionally underrepresented groups (n = 1,091). In doing so, we highlight the characteristics of the students in our study that are important for determining whether we should expect such interventions to be effective for diverse higher education populations. Correlational analyses revealed no evidence that growth mindset or social belonging were barriers to academic success among targeted subgroups in our sample. Additionally, we found no evidence that underrepresented minority, first-generation, or low-income students substantially endorsed fixed mindset or belonging uncertainty measures at baseline. We discuss benefits of testing basic assumptions for interpreting null results, including choosing the most appropriate interventions, accurately identifying subgroups who face psychological barriers to academic success, and establishing “redundancy thresholds” at which messages do not need to be reinforced by interventions.

Engaging Your Growth Mindset for a Successful School Year

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (16) ◽  
pp. 91-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lyndsey Zurawski ◽  
Nicole Mancini
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
General Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Growth Mindset ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Language And Literacy ◽  
Speech Language Pathologists ◽  
School Year ◽  
Classroom Speech ◽  
Successful School

This manuscript will focus on the value of a growth mindset, the belief that our abilities are not static, rather, those abilities can be developed upon and improved while utilizing hard work, dedication, and effort. In this article, we describe the value of a growth mindset for speech-language pathologists in schools who support language and literacy skills of students with disabilities and strive to increase academic success in the general education classroom. Speech-language pathologists in a school-based setting can use the principles of growth mindset, putting in into practice for themselves and to foster growth mindset within their students. We present recommendations and examples of implementing a growth mindset during the school year. Additionally, resources are provided for further understanding of growth mindset and the research behind growth mindset principles.

scholarly journals THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GROWTH MINDSET, GRIT, AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT: DOES GOAL COMMITMENT MATTER?

2021 ◽  
pp. 71-77
Author(s):  
Ebenezer Nrumah ◽  
Prosper Nkrumah ◽  
Yaw Frimpong
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Academic Success ◽  
Junior High School ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Junior High ◽  
Goal Commitment ◽  
Growth Mindset ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Classroom Experiment

This present study’s consisted of Ghanaian junior high school adolescents, precisely JHS1 and JHS 2. The study duration spanned from January 2019 to October 2020. During the study period, two assessments were done. In the first assessment, primary six students consisting of 425 adolescents, were assessed from 35 schools. During the year 2019, students in primary six who partook in the first assessment were engaged when they had been promoted to Junior high school. They included students who had become part of the classroom experiment. Eventually, this approach resulted in a sample size of 632 students for both JHS 1 and JHS 2. The data collection used structured questionnaires, and the snowballing approach was used for sampling and sample recruitment. The analytical method used for data analysis is structural equation modeling (SEM). This method is reliable for understanding the unique relationship between the dependent and independent variables to reveal their direct and indirect effects. This present study found that a growth mindset and grit are proportionally related to students’ academic achievement. However, grit should be measured by the perseverance of effort, not consistency of interest and conscientiousness, to positively affect academic achievement. Both goal commitment and growth mindset are related to understanding how grit contributes positively to academic success. In essence, the findings imply that students need to have the perseverance to trigger their growth mindset and goal commitment to affect their academic pursuits positively. KEYWORDS: Growth mindset; Grit; Academic achievement; Goal commitment

scholarly journals Why does a growth mindset intervention impact achievement differently across secondary schools? Unpacking the causal mediation mechanism from a national multisite randomized experiment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xu Qin ◽  
Stephanie Wormington ◽  
Alberto Guzman-Alvarez ◽  
Ming-Te Wang
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Internal Validity ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Growth Mindset ◽  
National Study ◽  
Educational Transitions ◽  
Causal Mediation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Growth Mindset Intervention ◽  
Mindset Intervention

The growth mindset or the belief that intelligence is malleable has garnered significant attention for its positive association with academic success. Several recent randomized trials, including the National Study of Learning Mindsets (NSLM), have been conducted to understand why, for whom, and under what contexts a growth mindset intervention can promote beneficial achievement outcomes during critical educational transitions. Prior research suggests that the NSLM intervention was particularly effective in improving low-achieving 9th graders’ GPA, while the impact varied across schools. In this study, we investigated the underlying causal mediation mechanism that might explain this impact and how the mechanism varied across different types of schools. By applying an advanced analytic procedure developed under a causal framework, the analysis enhances the external and internal validity of the results. We found that challenge-seeking behavior played a significant mediating role, only in medium-achieving schools, which may partly explain the reason why the intervention worked differently across schools. We concluded by discussing implications for designing interventions that not only promote students’ growth mindsets, but also foster supportive learning environments under different school contexts.

Students’ Growth Mindsets, Goals, and Academic Outcomes in Mathematics

2017 ◽  
Vol 225 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keiko C. P. Bostwick ◽  
Rebecca J. Collie ◽  
Andrew J. Martin ◽  
Tracy L. Durksen
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Academic Outcomes ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Growth Mindset ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Integrative Approach ◽  
Orientation Factor ◽  
School Students ◽  
Growth Orientation ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. The majority of educational research on the associations between growth constructs and academic outcomes has adopted a somewhat piecemeal approach, focusing on either growth mindset (implicit beliefs about intelligence) or growth goals. We explore an integrative approach to analyzing the impact of well-established and emerging growth constructs (viz. growth mindset, self-based growth goals, task-based growth goals) on academic outcomes in mathematics. Our participants were secondary school students (n = 4,411) in grades 7–9 from 19 schools in Australia. We used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the measurement and substantive hypotheses in our study. We found that growth mindset, self-based growth goals, and task-based growth goals were well represented by an underlying growth orientation factor. Additionally, after controlling for five student background factors (e.g., sex, socioeconomic status [SES]), students’ growth orientation positively predicted mathematics engagement and achievement. These results contribute to the growing literature on educational growth constructs and academic success.

The Promise of Noncognitive Factors for Underrepresented College Students

2020 ◽  
pp. 152102512093511
Author(s):  
Patrick Akos ◽  
Jeffrey A. Greene ◽  
Eric Fotheringham ◽  
Samantha Raynor ◽  
Junius Gonzales ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Black Colleges ◽  
Growth Mindset ◽  
First Year ◽  
Initial Growth ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Credit Hours ◽  
American Students ◽  
Predict Academic Success ◽  
Noncognitive Factors

We use confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to test the validity and reliability of three non-cognitive factors—resilience, grit, and growth mindset—as well as to examine whether those factors predict academic success for a sample of students primarily represented by first-year African American students at three Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and one Minority Serving Institution (MSI). The findings indicate that initial growth mindset and grit scores predicted GPA, whereas changes in resilience over the academic year predicted the number of credit hours taken at the end of the first year. Results add to the ongoing debate about the credibility and utility of noncognitive factors for fostering success.

scholarly journals Quick, Easy Mindset Intervention Can Boost Academic Achievement in Large Introductory Psychology Classes

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keiko C. P. Bostwick ◽  
Kathryn A. Becker-Blease
Keyword(s):  
Academic Performance ◽  
Academic Success ◽  
Educational Interventions ◽  
Introductory Psychology ◽  
Growth Mindset ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Manipulation Check ◽  
Fixed Mindset ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Mindset Intervention

Having a growth mindset has been shown to predict better academic performance in a variety of educational settings. Efforts to instill a growth mindset through educational interventions have demonstrated positive effects on academic success. However, many of the interventions previously tested are relatively time intensive and costly for some instructors at large research-intensive institutions. In this study, we find that a quick and easy mindset intervention can produce some gains in academic performance. This intervention involved no class time, little prep-work, and was easily disseminated to a 300-student Introductory Psychology lecture. Participants ( N = 278) were randomly assigned to receive a growth mindset, fixed mindset, or control letter from their instructor after their first midterm exam. Nine weeks post-intervention, participants were given a manipulation check to see who read and remembered their letter’s message. Of participants who passed the manipulation check ( N = 86), those in the growth mindset condition outperform their fixed mindset counterparts by as much as 9%.

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