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

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soobin Kim ◽  
Barbara Schneider ◽  
John Yun

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.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xu Qin ◽  
Stephanie Wormington ◽  
Alberto Guzman-Alvarez ◽  
Ming-Te Wang

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.


2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 878-908 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeni L. Burnette ◽  
Jeffrey M. Pollack ◽  
Rachel B. Forsyth ◽  
Crystal L. Hoyt ◽  
Alexandra D. Babij ◽  
...  

Despite mounting interest in growth mindset interventions, this approach has yet to be applied to the domain of entrepreneurship. In the present research, we developed and tested if a growth mindset intervention could be leveraged to promote students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy and if this, in turn, predicted career development (i.e., academic interest, career interest, task persistence, and academic performance). We report on our findings, from an Open Science Framework (OSF) preregistered study, that is a randomized controlled trial implementing a growth mindset intervention. We randomly assigned undergraduate students ( N = 238) in an introduction to entrepreneurship class to either the growth mindset intervention or to a knowledge-based attention-matched control. Students in the growth mindset intervention, relative to the control, reported greater entrepreneurial self-efficacy and task persistence on their main class project. The intervention also indirectly improved academic and career interest via entrepreneurial self-efficacy. However, the intervention failed to directly or indirectly impact performance on a classroom assignment. Additionally, and somewhat surprisingly, gender and past experience in the field failed to moderate any effects of the intervention on outcomes. Theoretical implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 095679762110289
Author(s):  
David S. Yeager ◽  
Jamie M. Carroll ◽  
Jenny Buontempo ◽  
Andrei Cimpian ◽  
Spencer Woody ◽  
...  

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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Joy Montagna ◽  
Tamara Marksteiner ◽  
Oliver Dickhäuser

The present study assessed the impact of a one-time computerized mindset intervention on teaching students’ cognitive stress appraisal before an upcoming exam. Previous research highlights the long-term effectiveness of growth-mindset interventions. Based on theoretical assumptions derived from the transactional stress theory as well as recent empirical evidence on intelligence mindset and stress, we proposed that changing students’ mindset would also impact their cognitive stress appraisal. In order to test this hypothesis, a sample of teaching students received a one-time computerized growth-mindset intervention aiming to foster viewing abilities as incremental. We found a significant as well as relatively lasting impact on participants’ mindset but no significant effect on participants’ stress appraisal. Nevertheless, an exploratory mediation analysis revealed that the intervention’s effect on participants’ appraisal of their coping ability (as part of the cognitive stress appraisal) was fully mediated by participants’ mindset. The results highlight the effectiveness of the utilized intervention and provide first practical insights into how a person’s mindset and their stress appraisal relate.


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