raising student achievement by promoting a growth mindset · • standard progressive matrices...

Raising Student Achievement

By Promoting a Growth

Mindset

Overview

• Fixed versus Growth mindset

• Research on how beliefs shape

learning

• How to change mindsets

– 5-session PD invitation

Quick Survey

How many of you have …

• some familiarity with this topic?

• a great deal of familiar with it?

• no previous exposure to mindset research?

Some students are highly motivated

and others are not.

Why?

What Motivates Students

to Try Hard in School?

Growth Mindset and

Achievement

• Decades of research show a powerful relationship between

mindset and achievement.

• Students’ beliefs about intelligence and learning impact:

• Motivation

• Academic behaviors (e.g., studying and seeking

help)

• Responses to challenges and setbacks

• Academic achievement

Growth Mindset vs. Fixed

Mindset

Fixed mindset

Intelligence is a fixed trait. You

can’t change it.

Growth mindset

You can grow your intelligence

through effort.

Mindsets

These two beliefs lead students to very

different conclusions about the meaning

of events

Mindsets

Photo by Gregory Ewanowich

Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Dweck 2007

Consequences of Beliefs

Fixed Mindset Growth Mindset

Goal in School?

Values effort?

Reaction to

Failure?



Goal in School? Look Smart

Values effort?

Reaction to

Failure?




Goal in School? Look Smart Learn

Values effort?

Reaction to

Failure?


Goals

Looking smart is most important:

“The main thing I want when I do

my school work is to show how

good I am at it."

Learning is most important:

“It’s much more important for me

to learn things in my classes than

it is to get the best grades.”

Fixed

mindset

Growth

mindset

Goals? Look Smart Learn

Values

effort?

Reaction to

Failure?


ERP Evidence for How Mindsets

Control Attention

Procedure1. Participants asked a question.

2. Participants type their answer.

3. Participants are told whether they are right or wrong.

4. Brain activation is recorded.

5. Participants are told the correct answer.

6. Brain activation is recorded.

WRONG!

And the answer is...





Values effort?

Reaction to

Failure?





Values effort? No

Reaction to

Failure?





Values effort? No Yes

Reaction to

Failure?

Value of Effort

Fixed

mindset

Growth

mindset


Values

effort?No Yes

Reaction to

Failure?

Effort is negative:

“To tell the truth, when I work

hard at my school work it makes

me feel like I’m not very smart."

Effort is positive:

“The harder you work at

something, the better you’ll be at

it.”






Reaction to

Failure?






Reaction to

Failure?Give Up






Reaction to

Failure?Give Up Work Harder

Response to Failure

Helpless

“I would spend less time on this subject

from now on.”

“I would try not to take this subject ever

again.”

“I would try to cheat on the next test.”

Resilient

“I would work harder in this class from

now on.”

“I would spend more time studying for the

tests.”

Fixed

mindset

Growth

mindset


Values

effort?No Yes

Reaction to

Failure?Give up Work Harder

Consequences of Mindsets




Reaction to

Failure?Give Up Work Harder

Achievement Lower Higher

Does Growth Mindset Correlate

with Achievement?Evidence From A Nationwide Sample In Chile

• Chilean National Achievement

Test

• 10th grade test incorporated

Growth Mindset Assessment

• n=147,000

Claro, Paunesku, & Dweck (under review)

Susana

Claro

Dave

Paunesku

Does Growth Mindset Correlate

with Achievement?Evidence from a Nationwide Sample in Chile

Recursive Processes

Reduced Effort

Lower Achievement

Higher Achievement

Growth Mindset

Increased Effort

Challenge or Failure

FixedMindset

Mindsets Can Change!

Rigorous research also shows that

mindsets can change

When they are changed to have a Growth

Mindset, students do better

Mindset Interventions

Online Growth Mindset Intervention

Paunesku, Walton, Romero, Smith, Yeager, & Dweck (2015)

Study Design:

– 1584 students, SES from 1% to 90% reduced lunch

– 13 high schools (8 public, 4 charter, 1 private); SES from

1% to 90% reduced lunch

– 33% Latino, 17% Asian, 23% White, 11% Black, and 16%

other/mixed ethnicity

Intervention:

– Two 45-minute sessions

– Taught about the brain and neural plasticity

– Discussed implications for effort, help seeking, and

intelligence

Paunesku, Walton, Romero, Smith, Yeager, & Dweck (2015)

How Do Everyday Interactions

Shape Mindsets?

• The language we use tells others what

we believe and what we value

• Feedback tells us what is expected of

us and what goals we should have

Self-esteem Movement

Praise

• Research Question:

Do different kinds of praise influence

students’ response to failure?

Claudia Mueller

Mueller & Dweck, 1998

• N = 128 5th grade

students

• Standard

progressive

matrices (Ravens)

Praise Effects on IQ Test

Performance:

• Control Group: “Wow, that’s a really

good score.”

• Intelligence Praise: “Wow, that’s a really

good score. You must be smart at this.”

• Effort (Process) Praise: “Wow, that’s a

really good score. You must have tried

really hard.”



Performance:

Part 3:

IQ Test: Very Difficult


After Setback

“That’s a lot

worse”


• Completed moderately difficult IQ problems

• Received positive feedback (intelligence praise, effort praise, or control)

• Completed very difficult IQ problems

• Received negative feedback that they did a lot worse

• Completed moderately difficult IQ problems



Performance:

Number of Problems Solved

Before and After Setback

Control praise

Intelligence praise

Effort praise

Growth Mindset Praise

Don’t Focus On:– Qualities commonly interpreted as stable,

like talent or intelligence

Do Focus On:– Effort and strategies used

“I like how you tried a new way to solve that.”

– Abilities improving over time with practice“You’ve been practicing and I can see it’s paying off.”

– Mistakes and being challenged as necessary part of learning“I love mistakes because they’re an opportunity to learn – being challenged is when the brain grows most.”

What Can We Do For

Our Students?

Let’s Learn Together!

• You are invited to participate in an upcoming

professional learning cycle

• Learn simple ways to cultivate a Growth

Mindset in your students

• We will use resources developed by Stanford

University’s PERTS Laboratory (the Project for

Education Research That Scales)

Mindset Kit – mindsetkit.org

Questions? Comments?

How do mindsets show up in

your classrooms?

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