Productive Persistence Motivating and Engaging All Students

David Scott Yeager

In collaboration with:

Jane Muhich, Nicole Gray, Lawrence Morales, and Roberta Brown

Fixed Mindset: “Being a 'math person' or not is something about you that you really can't change. Some people are good at math and other people aren't."

2

Productive Persistence:

Tenacity + Good Strategies

3

Productive Persistence:Scope of Work

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Practical Theory

Practical Theory

Practical MeasuresPractical Measures

ImprovableActivities / Materials

ImprovableActivities / Materials

• Centered on aproblem of practice

• Co-developed with practitioners and students

• Tested with academicexperts

• Brief and practical• Face-valid for

practitioners• Recognizable to

researchers• Designed to inform

improvements

• Initial set of activities• Systems for collecting

data• Strategies for

improvement• Tests that inform practice

and academic theories

• Interviews with students:– Students attending Foothill

college.

– Arleen Arnsparger, from the CCCSE.

• Tests of the model:– Uri Treisman

– Arleen Arnsparger,

– Lawrence Morales,

– Jane Muhich

– Rose Asera

– Mary Ann Firpo

• Coaching:– Lindsay Martin, IHI 

Creating a Practical Theory and Measures of Productive Persistence

Development Procedure

1. 90-day cycle to create a list of all potential drivers to measure (result: 182 drivers)

2. Reduce, using theory and interviews (result: 10 secondary drivers)

3. Collect every measure of each of the drivers (result: 828 survey items)

4. Reduce and re-write, using best-practices survey design (result: 26 items, median response 3 min)

5. Pilot: cognitive pretests and with respondents

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Successfully Completing

Developmental Math

Successfully Completing

Developmental Math

Course material not seen as

interesting or useful

Course material not seen as

interesting or useful

Students don’t see themselves

as math learners

Students don’t see themselves

as math learners

Students need skills and habits

required for college success

Students need skills and habits

required for college success

Students have weak ties to

peers, faculty and course of

study

Students have weak ties to

peers, faculty and course of

study

Students do not react well to academic setbacks

(e.g., “I’m just not good at math; teacher is biased; I got lucky”)

Students do not react well to academic setbacks

(e.g., “I’m just not good at math; teacher is biased; I got lucky”)

Students lack “the basics” of how to be a college studentStudents lack “the basics” of how to be a college student

Students have math anxietyStudents have math anxiety

Course content is not seen as interesting / relevant

Course content is not seen as interesting / relevant

Students lack intrinsic & freely-chosen reasons for learning

Students lack intrinsic & freely-chosen reasons for learning

Students are aware of negative academic stereotypes

Students are aware of negative academic stereotypes

Primary Drivers of the Problem (things that keep us from meeting the aim)

Secondary Drivers

Students lack long-term goalsStudents lack long-term goals

Few social ties to facultyFew social ties to faculty

Few social ties to peersFew social ties to peers

Losing students at transitions

Losing students at transitions

Need a shortened, pre-enrolled, year-long mathematics pathwayNeed a shortened, pre-enrolled, year-long mathematics pathway

Some faculty lack

skills/beliefs to promote

engagement

Some faculty lack

skills/beliefs to promote

engagement

Faculty’s mindsets about student’s potential

Faculty’s mindsets about student’s potential

Faculty’s beliefs about their roleFaculty’s beliefs about their role

Faculty’s engagement skills Faculty’s engagement skills

[Not measured]

[Not measured]

Measured in Extended

Background Survey

Math Performance

Math Performance

Course material not seen as

interesting or useful

Course material not seen as

interesting or useful

Students don’t see themselves

as math learners

Students don’t see themselves

as math learners

Students need skills and habits

required for college success

Students need skills and habits

required for college success

Students have weak ties to

peers, faculty and course of

study

Students have weak ties to

peers, faculty and course of

study

Students do not react well to academic setbacks

(e.g., “I’m just not good at math; teacher is biased; I got lucky”)

Students do not react well to academic setbacks

(e.g., “I’m just not good at math; teacher is biased; I got lucky”)

Students lack “the basics” of how to be a college studentStudents lack “the basics” of how to be a college student

Students have math anxietyStudents have math anxiety

Course content is not seen as interesting / relevant

Course content is not seen as interesting / relevant

Students lack intrinsic & freely-chosen reasons for learning

Students lack intrinsic & freely-chosen reasons for learning

Students are aware of negative academic stereotypes

Students are aware of negative academic stereotypes

Primary Drivers of the Problem (things that keep us from meeting the aim)

Secondary Drivers

Students lack long-term goalsStudents lack long-term goals

Few social ties to facultyFew social ties to faculty

Few social ties to peersFew social ties to peers

-.32 SD

-.64 SD

-.65 SD

-1.16 SD

-.68 SD 35% of the variance

accounted for

n.s.

n.s.

n.s.

n.s.

Independent Effects

Survey Pilot

Math GradesMath Grades

Course material not seen as

interesting or useful

Course material not seen as

interesting or useful

Students don’t see themselves

as math learners

Students don’t see themselves

as math learners

Students need skills and habits

required for college success

Students need skills and habits

required for college success

Students have weak ties to

peers, faculty and course of

study

Students have weak ties to

peers, faculty and course of

study

Students do not react well to academic setbacks

(e.g., “I’m just not good at math; teacher is biased; I got lucky”)

Students do not react well to academic setbacks

(e.g., “I’m just not good at math; teacher is biased; I got lucky”)

Students lack “the basics” of how to be a college studentStudents lack “the basics” of how to be a college student

Students have math anxietyStudents have math anxiety

Course content is not seen as interesting / relevant

Course content is not seen as interesting / relevant

Students lack intrinsic & freely-chosen reasons for learning

Students lack intrinsic & freely-chosen reasons for learning

Students are aware of negative academic stereotypes

Students are aware of negative academic stereotypes

Primary Drivers of the Problem (things that keep us from meeting the aim)

Secondary Drivers

Students lack long-term goalsStudents lack long-term goals

Few social ties to facultyFew social ties to faculty

Few social ties to peersFew social ties to peers

-15%

-7%

-15%

-5%

-23%

41% of the variance

accounted for

-5%

n.s.

n.s.

Independent Effects

-10%

Survey Pilot

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“Starting Strong:”A Focus on the First 3-4

Weeks

“Starter Package” Elements • Students’ Mindsets:

– Growth Mindset + Values Affirmation writing activity– Setting the stage for productive struggle– Why study statistics?/Why study mathematics?

• Social Connections– Contract activity– Group work (already completed)

• “College knowledge”– Self-regulated learning

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Student mindsets undermine motivation

Few or no connections

Students’ limited “college knowledge”

Expectations

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Miyake et al., Science, College PhysicsStudent mindsets

undermine motivation

*

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Mindsets: Co-Development and Pilot

Student mindsets undermine motivation

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Student mindsets undermine motivation

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Valencia College, Beginning AlgebraStudent mindsets

undermine motivation

*

• “As soon as I leave class, I go to the lab. When I leave the lab I go home and do more work. Even in the car, I am studying. Just doing work, doing work, doing work. All day long I am studying … and that was helping me fail my tests.

After I read that article it clicked for me. I changed my study habits. Instead of just doing work throughout all my other activities, I started studying for shorter periods of time. And actually studying, not just working the same problems over again. I tried that for the test and I did so much better!”

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Interviews With Treatment Group: “What did you learn from the exercise?”

Student mindsets undermine motivation

Improvement Plan• Improvement of existing starter

package elements– Faculty 2-minute surveys– Student 2-minute surveys– MyStatway behaviors

• Development of additional elements– Piloting this fall in QW colleges and other colleges

• Alpha Labs: Research into new ideas – Student surveys– MyStatway student performance

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