How can we inspire nations of learners? An investigation of growth mindset and challenge-seeking in two countries

Humanistic data art visualization for analyzing learner growth in Challenge Based Learning programs

This perspective article investigates the potential of applying artistic or "humanistic" data visualization to improve the understanding of learner's growth in the context of highly dynamic, learner-centric and experiential educational programs. The article explores the possibility of leveraging a more humanistic or esthetically driven approach to visual learning analytics in the context of programs using Challenge Based Learning (CBL) as a learning framework. CBL is a relatively new and rapidly expanding educational framework grounded on a rich tradition of constructivist, progressive and experiential learning theories. To illustrate the concept, the authors created two data visualizations, designed to offer a comprehensive overview of learners' growing perceptions. The artistic infographic also provides program managers' insights into class dynamics and the programs' overall impact, enhancing the understanding and effectiveness of student-centered learning journeys. Some suggestions for future research are offered.

Hot topics and frontier evolution of growth-mindset research: a bibliometric analysis using CiteSpace

By virtue of CiteSpace, this study aims to evaluate and pinpoint the status, hot areas, and frontiers of growth-mindset research. Co-authorship analysis, co-citation analysis, co-occurrence analysis, cluster analysis, and content analysis are conducted, based on 543 articles selected from the Social Sciences Citation Index database. Researchers from Australia and countries/territories in North America, East Asia, and Western Europe have maintained relatively closer cooperation with each other. Carol S. Dweck, Jeni L. Burnette, David S. Yeager, and Mary Murphy have high publication volumes and close connections with each other. Angela Duckworth has acted as a bridge among many researchers. Highly co-cited literature has mainly focused on the impacts of mindset and intervention measures. In the past two decades, the literature on mindset research has plunged into numerous hot topics in terms of implicit theory, intelligence, motivation, beliefs, achievements, academic performance, students, transitions, and psychological intervention. Based on burst detection, the field of growth-mindset research shows the following trends: (1) future research must pay more attention to fidelity in intervention studies, conduct rigorous manipulation tests at the statistical level, and improve causal relationship models between growth mindset and other variables and (2) use a multidisciplinary perspective to provide a deeper explanation of the formation mechanism of the growth mindset. Finally, (3) the function mechanisms of the growth mindset in different cultural backgrounds should be strengthened.

Measuring student mindsets at scale in resource-constrained settings: A toolkit with an application to Brazil during the pandemic

Mounting evidence that growth mindset-the belief that intelligence is not fixed and can be developed-improves educational outcomes has spurred additional interest in how to measure and promote it in other contexts. Most of this research, however, focuses on high-income countries, where the most common protocols for measuring and intervening on student mindsets rely on connected devices-often unavailable in low- and middle-income countries' schools. This paper develops a toolkit to measure student mindsets in resource-constrained settings, specifically in the context of Brazilian secondary public schools. Concretely, we convert the computer-based survey instruments into text messages (SMS). Collecting mindset survey data from 3570 students in São Paulo State as schools gradually reopened in early 2021, we validate our methodology by matching key patterns in our data to previous findings in the literature. We also train a machine learning model on our data and show that it can (1) accurately classify students' SMS responses, (2) accurately classify student mindsets even based on text written in other media, and (3) rate the fidelity of different interventions to the published growth mindset curricula.

Perceived impacts of a school-based growth mindset programme 'Mindset Teams' in Scotland: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND

Teachers as delivery agents within school-based mindset programmes is a potential intervention strategy for improving pupils' outcomes. The Mindset Teams programme, utilises teachers as delivery agents, with an aim to improve learning resilience for health and attainment outcomes among schools in Scotland. This study examined the perceived impacts of the programme to develop a programme theory of change and refine an earlier co-produced logic model.

METHODS

Across six intervention schools, one-to-one interviews were conducted with teachers (N = 18) and focus groups were conducted with 23 pupils aged 8-11-years. Fourteen stakeholders involved in programme provision, secondary school delivery, funding decisions or policy-related areas also participated in a one-to-one interview. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis with a combined deductive and inductive coding approach.

RESULTS

Themes were identified in relation to impacts on teachers (five themes), pupils (eight themes), and broader outcomes (two themes), with most themes discussed by teachers and wider stakeholders. Across data, findings highlighted the proposed mechanisms by which the programme was intending to produce impacts, largely through increasing teacher knowledge and facilitating a positive school environment. Themes demonstrated the breadth of perceived programme impacts, highlighting both attainment and wellbeing outcomes among pupils.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings provide support for Mindset programmes focusing on the development of teachers' mindsets, highlighting the resultant perceived impacts this can have on both teachers and pupils alike. Future research should seek to capture health and wellbeing measures alongside attainment data to fully explore programme impacts.

Mindsets, contexts, and college enrollment: Taking the long view on growth mindset beliefs at the transition to high school

Socioeconomic disparities in academic progress have persisted throughout the history of the United States, and growth mindset interventions-which shift beliefs about the malleability of intelligence-have shown promise in reducing these disparities. Both the study of such disparities and how to remedy them can benefit from taking the "long view" on adolescent development, following the tradition of John Schulenberg. To do so, this study focuses on the role of growth mindsets in short-term academic progress during the transition to high school as a contributor to longer-term educational attainment. Guided by the Mindset × Context perspective, we analyzed new follow-up data to a one-year nationally representative study of ninth graders (National Study of Learning Mindsets, n = 10,013; 50% female; 53% white; 63% from lower-SES backgrounds). A conservative Bayesian analysis revealed that adolescents' growth mindset beliefs at the beginning of ninth grade predicted their enrollment in college 4 years later. These patterns were stronger for adolescents from lower-SES backgrounds, and there was some evidence that the ninth-grade math teacher's support for the growth mindset moderated student mindset effects. Thus, a time-specific combination of student and teacher might alter long-term trajectories by enabling adolescents to develop and use beliefs at a critical transition point that supports a cumulative pathway of course-taking and achievement into college. Notably, growth mindset became less predictive of college enrollment after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which occurred in the second year of college and introduced structural barriers to college persistence.

Exploring a Gaming-Based Intervention for Unemployed Young Adults: Thematic Analysis

BACKGROUND

Promoting positive psychologies that promote resilience such as a growth mindset could be beneficial for young, unemployed adults, as many lack the self-esteem and self-efficacy to cope with job search adversity. These young people may be reached at scale through the web-based delivery of self-administered positive psychology interventions. However, past studies report unsatisfying user experiences and a lack of user engagement. A gaming-based experience could be an approach to overcoming these challenges.

OBJECTIVE

Our research objective was to explore how young, unemployed adults experience a positive psychology intervention designed as a game to extract learning and principles for future intervention research and development.

METHODS

To respond to the research question, a team of researchers at the University of Stavanger worked with designers and developers to conceptualize and build a gaming-based intervention. Feedback from the users was collected through formative usability testing with 18 young adults in the target group. Retrospectively, recordings and notes were transcribed and subjected to thematic analysis to extract learnings for the purposes of this paper.

RESULTS

A total of 3 themes were identified that pinpoint what we consider to be key priorities for future gaming interventions for unemployed young adults: adaptation to user preferences (eg, need for responding to user preferences), empathic player interaction (eg, need for responsiveness to user inputs and a diverse set of interaction modes), and sensemaking of experience and context (eg, need for explicit presentation of game objectives and need for management of user expectations related to genre).

CONCLUSIONS

Feedback from end users in usability-testing sessions was vital to understanding user preferences and needs, as well as to inform ongoing intervention design and development. Our study also shows that game design could make interventions more entertaining and engaging but may distort the intervention if the game narrative is not properly aligned with the intervention intent and objectives. By contrast, a lack of adaptation to user needs may cause a less motivating user experience. Thus, we propose a structured approach to promote alignment between user preferences and needs, intervention objectives, and gameplay.

When do the effects of single-session interventions persist? Testing the mindset + supportive context hypothesis in a longitudinal randomized trial

Background

Single-session interventions have the potential to address young people's mental health needs at scale, but their effects are heterogeneous. We tested whether the mindset + supportive context hypothesis could help explain when intervention effects persist or fade over time. The hypothesis posits that interventions are more effective in environments that support the intervention message. We tested this hypothesis using the synergistic mindsets intervention, a preventative treatment for stress-related mental health symptoms that helps students appraise stress as a potential asset in the classroom (e.g., increasing oxygenated blood flow) rather than debilitating. In an introductory college course, we examined whether intervention-consistent messages from instructors sustained changes in appraisals over time, as well as impacts on students' predisposition to try demanding academic tasks that could enhance learning.

Methods

We randomly assigned 1675 students in the course to receive the synergistic mindsets intervention (or a control activity) at the beginning of the semester, and subsequently, to receive intervention-supportive messages from their instructor (or neutral messages) four times throughout the term. We collected weekly measures of students' appraisals of stress in the course and their predisposition to take on academic challenges. Trial-registration: OSF.io; DOI: 10.17605/osf.io/fchyn.

Results

A conservative Bayesian analysis indicated that receiving both the intervention and supportive messages led to the greatest increases in positive stress appraisals (0.35 SD; 1.00 posterior probability) and challenge-seeking predisposition (2.33 percentage points; 0.94 posterior probability), averaged over the course of the semester. In addition, intervention effects grew larger throughout the semester when complemented by supportive instructor messages, whereas without these messages, intervention effects shrank somewhat over time.

Conclusions

This study shows, for the first time, that supportive cues in local contexts can be the difference in whether a single-session intervention's effects fade over time or persist and even amplify.

Mindset × Context: Schools, Classrooms, and the Unequal Translation of Expectations into Math Achievement

When do adolescents' dreams of promising journeys through high school translate into academic success? This monograph reports the results of a collaborative effort among sociologists and psychologists to systematically examine the role of schools and classrooms in disrupting or facilitating the link between adolescents' expectations for success in math and their subsequent progress in the early high school math curriculum. Our primary focus was on gendered patterns of socioeconomic inequality in math and how they are tethered to the school's peer culture and to students' perceptions of gender stereotyping in the classroom. To do this, this monograph advances Mindset × Context Theory. This orients research on educational equity to the reciprocal influence between students' psychological motivations and their school-based opportunities to enact those motivations. Mindset × Context Theory predicts that a student's mindset will be more strongly linked to developmental outcomes among groups of students who are at risk for poor outcomes, but only in a school or classroom context where there is sufficient need and support for the mindset. Our application of this theory centers on expectations for success in high school math as a foundational belief for students' math progress early in high school. We examine how this mindset varies across interpersonal and cultural dynamics in schools and classrooms. Following this perspective, we ask: 1. Which gender and socioeconomic identity groups showed the weakest or strongest links between expectations for success in math and progress through the math curriculum? 2. How did the school's peer culture shape the links between student expectations for success in math and math progress across gender and socioeconomic identity groups? 3. How did perceptions of classroom gender stereotyping shape the links between student expectations for success in math and math progress across gender and socioeconomic identity groups? We used nationally representative data from about 10,000 U.S. public school 9th graders in the National Study of Learning Mindsets (NSLM) collected in 2015-2016-the most recent, national, longitudinal study of adolescents' mindsets in U.S. public schools. The sample was representative with respect to a large number of observable characteristics, such as gender, race, ethnicity, English Language Learners (ELLs), free or reduced price lunch, poverty, food stamps, neighborhood income and labor market participation, and school curricular opportunities. This allowed for generalization to the U.S. public school population and for the systematic investigation of school- and classroom-level contextual factors. The NSLM's complete sampling of students within schools also allowed for a comparison of students from different gender and socioeconomic groups with the same expectations in the same educational contexts. To analyze these data, we used the Bayesian Causal Forest (BCF) algorithm, a best-in-class machine-learning method for discovering complex, replicable interaction effects. Chapter IV examined the interplay of expectations, gender, and socioeconomic status (SES; operationalized with maternal educational attainment). Adolescents' expectations for success in math were meaningful predictors of their early math progress, even when controlling for other psychological factors, prior achievement in math, and racial and ethnic identities. Boys from low-SES families were the most vulnerable identity group. They were over three times more likely to not make adequate progress in math from 9th to 10th grade relative to girls from high-SES families. Boys from low-SES families also benefited the most from their expectations for success in math. Overall, these results were consistent with Mindset × Context Theory's predictions. Chapters V and VI examined the moderating role of school-level and classroom-level factors in the patterns reported in Chapter IV. Expectations were least predictive of math progress in the highest-achieving schools and schools with the most academically oriented peer norms, that is, schools with the most formal and informal resources. School resources appeared to compensate for lower levels of expectations. Conversely, expectations most strongly predicted math progress in the low/medium-achieving schools with less academically oriented peers, especially for boys from low-SES families. This chapter aligns with aspects of Mindset × Context Theory. A context that was not already optimally supporting student success was where outcomes for vulnerable students depended the most on student expectations. Finally, perceptions of classroom stereotyping mattered. Perceptions of gender stereotyping predicted less progress in math, but expectations for success in math more strongly predicted progress in classrooms with high perceived stereotyping. Gender stereotyping interactions emerged for all sociodemographic groups except for boys from high-SES families. The findings across these three analytical chapters demonstrate the value of integrating psychological and sociological perspectives to capture multiple levels of schooling. It also drew on the contextual variability afforded by representative sampling and explored the interplay of lab-tested psychological processes (expectations) with field-developed levers of policy intervention (school contexts). This monograph also leverages developmental and ecological insights to identify which groups of students might profit from different efforts to improve educational equity, such as interventions to increase expectations for success in math, or school programs that improve the school or classroom cultures.

Using Reappraisal to Improve Outcomes for STEM Teachers and Students

The many stressors associated with teaching can take a toll, resulting in high levels of burnout among teachers and reduced motivation and academic performance among students. This is especially true in the context of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects. Despite the efficacy of emotion regulation interventions in pedagogical settings in general and in STEM teaching in particular, there is a lack of suitable interventions. We applied the process model of emotion regulation to STEM teaching and proposed a framework, STEM-Model of EmotioN regulation: Teachers' Opportunities and Responsibilities (STEM-MENTOR), to elucidate how the high demands of STEM teaching and contextual factors (e.g., culture, reforms, teacher-student interactions) may lead to intensified negative emotions and deficits in executive functioning and emotion regulation implementation. Teacher emotions, in turn, shape students' STEM-related achievements and epistemic emotions. Thus, teachers' emotion regulation skills have pervasive effects on teaching outcomes for both teachers and students. We illustrate how at each level of our framework, steps could be taken to improve teachers' emotional trajectory. Our proposed STEM-MENTOR framework has implications for theoretical understanding and may help to shape future interventions that focus on cognitive-emotional processes in STEM education.

A Growth Mindset Frame Increases Opting In to Reading Information About Bias

We explore the conditions under which people will opt in to reading information about bias and stereotypes, a key precursor to the types of self-directed learning that diversity and anti-bias advocates increasingly endorse. Across one meta-analysis (total N = 1,122; 7 studies, 5 pre-registered) and 2 pre-registered experiments (total N = 1,717), we identify a condition under which people opt in to reading more about implicit bias and stereotypes. People randomly assigned to read a growth, rather than fixed, mindset frame about bias opted in to read more information about stereotypes and implicit bias (Study 1 and Study 3). The mechanism that drove these effects was individuals' construal of the task as a challenge (Studies 2 and 3). Our findings offer insight into how to promote engagement with information about stereotypes and biases. We discuss how this work advances the study of mindsets and diversity science.

Efficiently exploring the causal role of contextual moderators in behavioral science

Behavioral science interventions have the potential to address longstanding policy problems, but their effects are typically heterogeneous across contexts (e.g., teachers, schools, and geographic regions). This contextual heterogeneity is poorly understood, however, which reduces the field's impact and its understanding of mechanisms. Here, we present an efficient way to interrogate heterogeneity and address these gaps in knowledge. This method a) presents scenarios that vividly represent different moderating contexts, b) measures a short-term behavioral outcome (e.g., an academic choice) that is known to relate to typical intervention outcomes (e.g., academic achievement), and c) assesses the causal effect of the moderating context on the link between the psychological variable typically targeted by interventions and this short-term outcome. We illustrated the utility of this approach across four experiments (total n = 3,235) that directly tested contextual moderators of the links between growth mindset, which is the belief that ability can be developed, and students' academic choices. The present results showed that teachers' growth mindset-supportive messages and the structural opportunities they provide moderated the link between students' mindsets and their choices (studies 1 to 3). This pattern was replicated in a nationally representative sample of adolescents and did not vary across demographic subgroups (study 2), nor was this pattern the result of several possible confounds (studies 3 to 4). Discussion centers on how this method of interrogating contextual heterogeneity can be applied to other behavioral science interventions and broaden their impact in other policy domains.

Growth mindset predicts teachers’ life satisfaction when they are challenged to innovate their teaching

Teaching innovations can improve the quality of education and facilitate adaptation to environmental shifts caused by global shocks such as the COVID pandemic. However, the pressure to innovate and change may also cause erosion of teachers’ life satisfaction, especially when job resources are insufficient and support for the changes is inadequate, or when teachers lack confidence in mastering new teaching technology. In the present research, we showed that compared to those who did not, teachers who presented a growth mindset—the belief that one's abilities can grow by mobilizing effective effort—had a greater tendency to accept a new initiative in teaching and had higher life satisfaction, particularly when they perceived resources and support for the change were insufficient (Study 1). In addition, when schools needed to switch to online teaching because of school closure during the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers who presented a growth mindset, compared to those who did not, felt more self-efficacious in mastering online teaching and had higher life satisfaction (Study 2). We discuss these findings in terms of their implications on the management of teacher well-being and teachers’ professional development during significant environmental shifts.

The role of growth mindset and symbol of shared event representation in the promotion of challenge-pursuit

Challenges are rigorous opportunities to grow and learn. Yet many students underutilize these opportunities. This study investigated how the growth mindset and priming of a shared-event representation might independently affect students’ tendency to challenge-pursuit. In a school-wide intervention, a long-distance running program (POMA Run) that embodies the concept and shared experiences of “ascend beyond current self” was created. In our study, students were randomly selected, then randomly assigned to one of the two event representation conditions: (1) think about the POMA Run (prime condition) or (2) think about a neutral target (control condition). Afterwards, to measure their willingness to extend one's limit, they were presented with four school-life situations and asked to indicate their intention to engage in activities of varying levels of difficulty described in each situation. Next, they ideographically categorized the activities into those that fell in the comfort zone (within their current capacity), stretch zone (beyond current capacity, challenging but attainable), or panic zone (far beyond current capacity). Challenge-pursuit was defined as the intention to engage in the activities categorized in the stretch zone. In the control condition, students with a stronger (weaker) endorsement of growth mindset reported higher (lower) challenge-pursuit intention. The effect of event representation prime on promoting challenge-pursuit intentions was significant among students with a weaker growth mindset: their challenge-pursuit intention was stronger in the prime condition than the control condition. In contrast, students in the prime condition displayed equally strong challenge-pursuit intention regardless of their level of growth-mindset endorsement. The effectiveness of forming a shared-event representation will be discussed.

Reading struggle stories of role models can improve the perseverance of undergraduates with low perseverance

Perseverance refers to the ability that individuals show in the process of overcoming failure repeatedly and achieving success. The present study aimed to investigate how many stories about struggling role models undergraduates with a low level of perseverance need to read to effectively improve their perseverance after experiencing failure. Undergraduates with high and low levels of perseverance who had experienced failure were randomly assigned to read 5 struggle stories or 5 achievement stories of role models. They were asked to report their confidence in success, their emotional experience, and their persistent intentions after experiencing failure (i.e., their initial report after reading 0 stories) and then again after reading each story. The results showed that the participants' initially reported level of confidence in success improved after reading 1 struggle story of a role model and further improved after reading 5 struggle stories of role models. Furthermore, the participants' initially reported level of positive emotions increased after reading 1 struggle story or 1 achievement story of a role model, and the positive effects began to level off after reading 4 struggle stories or 4 achievement stories of role models. The participants' initially reported persistent intentions improved after reading 5 struggle stories of role models. These findings reveal that undergraduates can benefit from reading struggle stories of role models regardless of their perseverance levels. Undergraduates' confidence in success and their emotional experience can be improved more quickly than their persistent intentions after experiencing failure.

A synergistic mindsets intervention protects adolescents from stress

Social-evaluative stressors-experiences in which people feel they could be judged negatively-pose a major threat to adolescent mental health1-3 and can cause young people to disengage from stressful pursuits, resulting in missed opportunities to acquire valuable skills. Here we show that replicable benefits for the stress responses of adolescents can be achieved with a short (around 30-min), scalable 'synergistic mindsets' intervention. This intervention, which is a self-administered online training module, synergistically targets both growth mindsets4 (the idea that intelligence can be developed) and stress-can-be-enhancing mindsets5 (the idea that one's physiological stress response can fuel optimal performance). In six double-blind, randomized, controlled experiments that were conducted with secondary and post-secondary students in the United States, the synergistic mindsets intervention improved stress-related cognitions (study 1, n = 2,717; study 2, n = 755), cardiovascular reactivity (study 3, n = 160; study 4, n = 200), daily cortisol levels (study 5, n = 118 students, n = 1,213 observations), psychological well-being (studies 4 and 5), academic success (study 5) and anxiety symptoms during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns (study 6, n = 341). Heterogeneity analyses (studies 3, 5 and 6) and a four-cell experiment (study 4) showed that the benefits of the intervention depended on addressing both mindsets-growth and stress-synergistically. Confidence in these conclusions comes from a conservative, Bayesian machine-learning statistical method for detecting heterogeneous effects6. Thus, our research has identified a treatment for adolescent stress that could, in principle, be scaled nationally at low cost.

Growth Mindset Predicts Cognitive Gains in an Older Adult Multi-Skill Learning Intervention

Growth mindset (belief in the malleability of intelligence) is a unique predictor of young learners' increased motivation and learning, and may have broader implications for cognitive functioning. Its role in learning in older adulthood is unclear. As part of a larger longitudinal study, we examined growth mindset and cognitive functioning in older adults engaged in a 3-month multi-skill learning intervention that included growth mindset discussions. Before, during, and after the intervention, participants reported on their growth mindset beliefs and completed a cognitive battery. Study 1 indicated that intervention participants, but not control participants, increased their growth mindset during the intervention. Study 2 replicated these results and found that older adults with higher preexisting growth mindsets showed larger cognitive gains at posttest compared to those with lower preexisting growth mindsets. Our findings highlight the potential role of growth mindset in supporting positive learning cycles for cognitive gains in older adulthood.

The development of grit and growth mindset in Chinese children

In a recent longitudinal study of U.S. adolescents, grit predicted rank-order increases in growth mindset and, to a lesser degree, growth mindset predicted rank-order increases in grit. The current investigation replicated and extended these findings in a younger non-Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (non-WEIRD) population. Two large samples totaling more than 5000 elementary school children in China completed self-report questionnaires assessing grit and growth mindset five times over 2 years. As in Park et al. (2020, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 198, 1048892020), we found reciprocal relations between grit and growth mindset. Grit systematically predicted rank-order increases in growth mindset at each subsequent 6-month interval. Growth mindset also predicted small rank-order increases in grit over the same period. These findings suggest that, over time, behavior may exert as much an influence on beliefs as the reverse-a dynamic possibly observable as early as in elementary school and not just in WEIRD cultures.

A Comparison of Chinese and European–American University Students’ Virtue and Mind Learning Beliefs and Academic Achievement in Global Cultural Exchange

The world’s two largest economies, the United States and China, have fundamentally different cultural beliefs about learning. Thus, when examining Chinese learners, Western researchers were confused by the contrasting phenomenon between seemingly poor learning approaches and high academic achievement, i.e., the Paradox of Chinese Learners. In addressing this paradox, Jin Li offered a theoretical framework of the Chinese virtue model versus the European–American mind model to comprehensively understand the differences in students’ learning beliefs and academic achievement between the two cultures. However, Li does not pay attention to global cultural exchange or directly link learning beliefs to academic achievement. Therefore, this paper presents two empirical studies addressing these research gaps. Study 1 adopted both qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate the learning beliefs of Chinese and European–American university students, and revealed that deepening cultural exchange narrowed the gap between the two models (Study 1a), but the impact of the virtue model on European–American students was weaker than that of the mind model on Chinese students (Study 1b). Study 2 further revealed that both models were beneficial for Chinese students’ academic achievement, whereas only the virtue model benefited European–American students. These findings have important implications for addressing the Paradox of Chinese Learners.

What Characterises an Effective Mindset Intervention in Enhancing Students’ Learning? A Systematic Literature Review

In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to interventions designed to enhance individuals’ sustainable development in learning by priming a growth mindset. The current study systematically explored the characteristics of message transformation in growth mindset interventions from the perspective of teaching and learning. According to a three-phase literature search (database, prominent researchers, and backtracking references), thirty-eight empirical studies investigating the efficacy of mindset interventions for adolescents of school age constitute the sample for the current literature review. The results indicate that a supportive but not-completely-saturated learning environment paves the way to implementing a mindset intervention. The three pedagogical characteristics that ensure successful interventions are: (1) Mutual interaction among the person, the context, and the theory to generate the message; (2) Iterative processes to ensure the message is delivered; and (3) a persuasive yet stealthy approach to facilitating its internalization. The findings inspire educators to design effective mindset interventions to enhance students’ learning. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

Margaret-Ann Armour and WISEST – an incredible legacy in advancing women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and the work still to do

Dr. Margaret-Ann Armour was a visionary and leader in addressing the issue of gender inclusivity and discrimination in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). She was instrumental in creating WISEST — Women in Scholarship, Engineering, Science, and Technology — in 1982, which was one of the first programs in Canada intentionally designed to increase the participation of women and girls in STEM career paths. Since then, this innovative organization has designed several programs featuring hands-on learning and mentoring that reduce barriers and empower people from underrepresented and marginalized groups to pursue education and careers in STEM fields. This review provides a template for WISEST programs, discusses their impact on diversity in STEM, and highlights the work still to be done.

Beliefs, affordances, and adolescent development: Lessons from a decade of growth mindset interventions

Beliefs play a central role in human development. For instance, a growth mindset-a belief about the malleability of intelligence-can shape how adolescents interpret and respond to academic difficulties and how they subsequently navigate the educational system. But do usually-adaptive beliefs have the same effects for adolescents regardless of the contexts they are in? Answering this question can reveal new insights into classic developmental questions about continuity and change. Here we present the Mindset×Context framework and we apply this model to the instructive case of growth mindset interventions. We show that teaching students a growth mindset is most effective in educational contexts that provide affordances for a growth mindset; that is, contexts that permit and encourage students to view ability as developable and to act on that belief. This evidence contradicts the "beliefs alone" hypothesis, which holds that teaching adolescents a growth mindset is enough and that students can profit from these beliefs in almost any context, even unsupportive ones. The Mindset×Context framework leads to the realization that in order to produce more widespread and lasting change, we must complement the belief-changing interventions that have been aimed at students with new interventions that guide teachers toward classroom policies and practices that allow students' growth mindset beliefs to take root and yield benefits.

A Synergistic Mindsets Intervention Protects Adolescents from Social Stress

Social stress poses a major threat to adolescent health via its effects on internalizing symptoms, such as anxiety and depression. Available interventions to help adolescents improve their stress responses, however, have not been effective in rigorous evaluation studies, or they have been difficult to administer widely. Here we show that replicable improvements in adolescent stress responses can be achieved with a short (~30-minute), scalable synergistic mindsets intervention. This intervention, which is a self-administered online training module, targets both growth mindsets (the idea that people's intelligence can be developed in response to challenge) and stress-can-be-enhancing mindsets (the idea that people's stress responses can be fuel for optimal performance). Its goal is to promote positive engagement with stressful events (e.g., learning from failure on a quiz or a conflict with a peer) and to encourage adolescents to use their responses to stressful events and even their bodily symptoms (e.g. racing heart, sweaty palms, butterflies in their stomach) to their advantage. In five double-blind, randomized, controlled trials (total N = 4,091 adolescents), the new synergistic mindsets intervention improved stress-related cognitions (Studies 1-2), cardiovascular reactivity (Study 3), daily internalizing symptoms and cortisol levels (Study 4), and generalized anxiety symptoms during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns (Study 5). Effects on downstream outcomes (in Studies 3-5) were stronger among individuals who, at baseline, held the two negative mindsets targeted by the intervention, providing evidence for the proposed mechanisms. Confidence in this conclusion comes from a conservative, Bayesian machine-learning method for detecting heterogeneity.

What can be learned from growth mindset controversies?

The growth mindset is the belief that intellectual ability can be developed. This article seeks to answer recent questions about growth mindset, such as: Does a growth mindset predict student outcomes? Do growth mindset interventions work, and work reliably? Are the effect sizes meaningful enough to merit attention? And can teachers successfully instill a growth mindset in students? After exploring the important lessons learned from these questions, the article concludes that large-scale studies, including preregistered replications and studies conducted by third parties (such as international governmental agencies), justify confidence in growth mindset research. Mindset effects, however, are meaningfully heterogeneous across individuals and contexts. The article describes three recent advances that have helped the field to learn from this heterogeneity: standardized measures and interventions, studies designed specifically to identify where growth mindset interventions do not work (and why), and a conceptual framework for anticipating and interpreting moderation effects. The next generation of mindset research can build on these advances, for example by beginning to understand and perhaps change classroom contexts in ways that can make interventions more effective. Throughout, the authors reflect on lessons that can enrich metascientific perspectives on replication and generalization. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).