What’s on your mind?

Over the last few years, the concept of different mindsets (the underlying beliefs people have about learning and intelligence) has exploded in popularity in educational settings. When learning about mindsets, teachers and students typically hear about two individuals: one with a fixed mindset and one with a growth mindset.  

The student with a fixed mindset might think that their abilities are static and unchanging, which often results in them giving up when things get hard and feeling sad or frustrated. The student with a growth mindset believes that, through effort and strategies, they can grow their brains, leading to improvement and positive emotions.  

The story we share here is an example of a schoolwide mindset messaging effort implemented at one elementary school in Edmonton. It came to be through a university–school partnership grant and shared interests in understanding how teachers spontaneously employ growth mindset messaging and how their students respond. Despite the complexities of teaching during the pandemic, eight teachers at the school allowed the researchers to interview parent-consented students (n = 84), leading to the following insights. 

Growth mindsets are good 

When asked what a growth mindset is, students almost always used positive words and explanations. For example, they said a growth mindset is “having a positive attitude about your life” and “a part in your mind that tells you to be positive.” Here are some other popular ways that students described a growth mindset. 

“When your mind is open to feedback and is always looking to get better.” 

“When you think you can do something.” 

“In a good mood and ready to learn.” 

“To keep trying and believe in yourself.” 

Figure 1 represents the frequency of words used by students to define a growth mindset, with larger words indicating a higher frequency of use. Despite this overall positivity, students also described how a growth mindset required more than just positive thinking.

Mindsets are not just for me 

Interestingly, students seemed aware that all sorts of people can have growth or fixed mindsets. Some students thought of other members of the school community such as “my best friend has a growth mindset for math because she is not the best but always keeps going.” But students had expanded their understanding of mindsets beyond school, explaining, for example, that “my parents usually have a growth mindset and I can tell because they are always trying to make their work better and they don't just give up” and “my sister has a growth mindset and I know because she is open to try many different things.” 

A growth mindset feels good 

Finally, we asked students about their emotions. In the context of COVID-19, it seems that anything that can bolster students’ pleasant emotions and reduce negative emotions is a win—and growth mindsets did just that. Students associate feeling more excited, confident and happy and less sad and angry with the notion of a growth mindset. While this is not causal evidence, it certainly does paint a clear picture of the good that students infer from school-based growth mindset messaging. 

Conclusion 

Teachers and students alike are captivated by the notion of growth mindsets. This university-school partnership helped shed light on how students at one school respond to growth mindset messaging. These students, as young as Grade 1, generally seemed to understand the possible benefits of a growth mindset for themselves and for others.

This project was supported by a grant from the Kule Institute for Advanced Study and the Alberta Teachers’ Association that was designed to encourage the codevelopment of research collaborations between faculty members at the University of Alberta and Alberta teachers.