Teacher Mindsets Help Explain Where a Growth-Mindset Intervention Does and Doesn’t Work

A growth-mindset intervention teaches the belief that intellectual abilities can be developed. Where does the intervention work best? Prior research examined school-level moderators using data from the National Study of Learning Mindsets (NSLM), which delivered a short growth-mindset intervention during the first year of high school. In the present research, we used data from the NSLM to examine moderation by teachers’ mindsets and answer a new question: Can students independently implement their growth mindsets in virtually any classroom culture, or must students’ growth mindsets be supported by their teacher’s own growth mindsets (i.e., the mindset-plus-supportive-context hypothesis)? The present analysis (9,167 student records matched with 223 math teachers) supported the latter hypothesis. This result stood up to potentially confounding teacher factors and to a conservative Bayesian analysis. Thus, sustaining growth-mindset effects may require contextual supports that allow the proffered beliefs to take root and flourish.

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Estimating the Impact of Growth Mindset on High School Mathematics Performance and Course-Taking

10.31219/osf.io/cqjw6 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Soobin Kim ◽

Barbara Schneider ◽

John Yun

Keyword(s):

Controlled Trial ◽

School Context ◽

Growth Mindset ◽

National Study ◽

Control Activity ◽

9Th Grade ◽

Nationally Representative ◽

The Impact ◽

Growth Mindset Intervention ◽

Mindset Intervention

Using a randomized controlled trial in a nationally representative sample of 65 public high schools (N = 13,660), we tested the effects of a growth mindset intervention on math course- taking patterns and student achievement and explored whether school context was related to the success of the intervention. Students were randomly assigned to complete either the growth mindset intervention or a control activity during two 25-minute sessions. After participating in the growth mindset program used in the National Study of Learning Mindsets, students’ 9th- grade mathematics GPA increased by an average of 0.05 grade points on a 4.3-point scale. We found distinct patterns of treatment effects that depend on level of math preparation, course intensity, school context, and changes in students’ mindset.

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Reactions from First-year Engineering Students to an In-depth Growth Mindset Intervention

10.18260/1-2--30917 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Emily Dringenberg ◽

Amena Shermadou ◽

Amy Betz

Keyword(s):

Engineering Students ◽

Growth Mindset ◽

First Year ◽

Growth Mindset Intervention ◽

Mindset Intervention

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

10.31219/osf.io/7c94h ◽

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.

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A review of growth mindset intervention in higher education: the case for infographics in cultivating mindset behaviors

Social Psychology of Education ◽

10.1007/s11218-021-09660-9 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 24 (5) ◽

pp. 1335-1362

Author(s):

Michelle W. T. Cheng ◽

Man Lai Leung ◽

Justin Chun-Him Lau

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Growth Mindset ◽

Growth Mindset Intervention ◽

Mindset Intervention

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Working Paper: Application of automatic sentiment analysis: The role of emotions in an experimental learning intervention

10.31234/osf.io/upfs9 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Manyu Li

Keyword(s):

Sentiment Analysis ◽

School Achievement ◽

Emotional Valence ◽

Growth Mindset ◽

Intervention Effect ◽

Sentence Level ◽

Academic Settings ◽

Growth Mindset Intervention ◽

Mindset Intervention

This secondary-analysis register report aims at testing the role of emotion in the intervention effect of an experimental intervention study in academic settings. Previous analyses of the National Study of the Learning Mindset (Yeager et al., 2019) showed that in a randomized controlled trial, high school students who were given the growth mindset intervention had, on average higher GPA than did students in the control condition. Previous analyses also showed that school achievement levels moderated the intervention effect. This study further explores whether the emotion students experienced during the growth mindset intervention plays a role in the intervention effect. Specifically, using a sentence-level automated text analysis for emotional valence (i.e. sentiment analysis), students’ written reflections during the intervention are analyzed. Linear mixed models are conducted to test if valence reflected in the written texts predicted higher intervention effect (i.e. higher post-intervention GPA given pre-intervention GPA). The moderating role of school achievement levels was also examined. A 10% random sample of the data was analyzed as a pilot study for this registered report to test for feasibility and proof-of-concept. Results of the pilot data showed small, yet significant relations between emotional valence and intervention effects. The results of this study have implications on the role of emotion in the results of intervention or experimental studies, especially those that are conducted in academic settings. This study also introduces a user-friendly text-based analytic method for experimental psychologists to detect and analyze sentence-level emotional valence in an intervention or experimental study.

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