The teacher's mindset
Is instilling a growth mindset in students enough to
allow them to experience the benefits of growth mindsets? Or is the mindset of
the teacher also important? A new study sheds light on this issue.
Growth mindset is related to grades
A fixed mindset encourages students to focus primarily
on appearing smart, avoid challenges and give up quickly when faced with
adversity. A growth mindset encourages students to focus primarily on learning,
seeking challenges and persevering in the face of adversity.
Many studies have previously shown that a growth
mindset correlates with academic achievement.
When growth mindset interventions work
Growth mindset interventions work when applied effectively, targeting learners who are vulnerable, and in a context that is supportive (read more). These findings include the large-scale National Study of Learning Mindsets (NSLM), which examined a short-term growth mindset intervention during the first year of high school.
How important is the teacher's mindset?
A new paper by Yeager et al. (2021) explored the
extent to which students implement their growth mindset independently in
virtually every classroom culture, or the need for students' growth mindsets to
be supported by their teacher's own growth mindset.
Their current analysis (N = 9,167) pointed to the latter. The teacher's growth mindset is necessary to maintain the effects of a growth mindset in students. It is only when teachers themselves have a growth mindset that student growth mindsets can take root and blossom.
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