The Impact of an Intervention on Growth Mindsets in Education

Abstract

Studies have shown the positive effects that growth mindsets can have in academic achievement. In this study, the researcher investigated the growth mindset scores of teacher participants, as well as the effects that a growth mindset intervention had on growth mindset scores, both in the short and longer term for the teachers sampled. Three data collection groupings were used to investigate four sets of hypotheses. Hypotheses set number one investigated whether the growth mindset intervention would have an effect on the participants’ mindset scores. Hypotheses sets two and three investigated whether the effects of the growth mindset intervention would be retained for three and six months post intervention. Hypotheses set number four compared whether teachers who had participated in the growth mindset intervention measured higher in their knowledge of growth mindset theory than the participants in the control group. The results of the data analysis demonstrated that the participants’ mindsets tended to lean towards growth versus fixed mindsets. The results also supported the idea that a growth mindset intervention could significantly affect the mindsets of participants, both three and six months post intervention.