Education Commons^™

Getting It Write: The Influence Of Growth Mindset On Secondary Students' Perceptions Of Their Writing Abilities, Megan Hertz

Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning

This study investigated the ways in which growth mindset activities influenced secondary students’ perceptions of their writing abilities and skills. The researcher introduced growth mindset strategies, language, and instruction into two class periods of a 10th–grade English classroom to improve students’ perceptions of their writing abilities and to develop students’ writing skills. Data were collected with pre– and post–intervention surveys, field notes, written artifacts, and individual interviews. The constant comparative method was used to analyze qualitative data to identify significant themes. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze quantitative data. The researcher found the participants expressed improved resilience in response to …

The Graduate Identity Formation Through Teaching (Gift) Project As A Mitigating Tool For Imposter Phenomenon, Brooke Ward

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an exploratory analysis of the impact of the Graduate Identity Formation through Teaching intervention -- an intervention in which Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics graduate students act as subject matter experts through teaching scientific concepts to elementary teacher candidates -- on graduate students and how it may mediate impostor phenomenon. A sense of expertise, community, and belonging were used as proxy measurements for impostor phenomenon. Data from graduate student impact statements in reflection papers and post-semester interviews were analyzed to measure change in imposter phenomenon for each graduate student. As a result of the intervention, graduate students …

Teacher Perception Of Implicit Mindset And Its Influence On Math Instruction In Elementary Classrooms, Danielle E. Tamke

Education Doctorate Dissertations

Math achievement is frequently measured by various assessments. These assessments are then used to determine student and school success, often leading to high stakes decision making. Therefore, it is important to understand ways in which educators can improve student math achievement. Students with a growth mindset, as defined by Dweck (2006), exhibit higher math achievement than students with fixed mindsets. Additionally, teaching practices predict and influence the development of student mindsets. Therefore, one way to improve student math achievement may be through understanding the impact, as well as proper and consistent implementation of growth mindset instructional practices. This qualitative phenomenological …

The Impact Of Noncognitive Skills On Student Achievement In Elementary-Age Students During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Karen Garmon

Doctor of Education Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic has created one of the largest disruptions in educational history. The impact on learning loss and social-emotional well-being from the pandemic threatens to compromise achievement outcomes for an extended number of years. Previous research has proven relationships between grit, growth mindset, self-efficacy, and academic achievement (Duckworth, 2016; Duckworth et al., 2007; Dweck, 2008), but little is known about the validity of noncognitive constructs and academic achievement in elementary-age students, particularly how the relationship between these variables affected student achievement during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to determine if noncognitive traits had a relationship …

The Implementation Of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy And Socratic Seminar: The Effect On African American Students’ Reading And Their Critical Thinking, Amy Christina Waddell

Theses and Dissertations

Achievement gaps have been an ongoing issue among African American students for years. The continuation of low achievement scores has been the downfall of African American student success throughout their educational history (Royle & Brown, 2014). So much time has been spent helping students achieve grade-level mastery, while little was being done to ensure continuous academic growth for students that were already reading on-grade level. Over time, these on-grade level students remained stagnant or tended to regress. This research study presented two instructional intervention strategies that demonstrated how critical thinking could improve the growth in reading, among rising sixth-grade on-grade …

Mindfulness & Mindset: The Winning Combination? The Exploration Of The Unstuck Method® On Developmental Math Students: A Mixed Methods Study, Edite Birnbaum, Edith L. Birnbaum

Graduate Theses & Dissertations

Many students enter colleges having to take non-credit-bearing courses, and many do not pass these courses due to numerous factors, including anxiety and stress, especially in mathematics. Current literature shows how mindfulness-based interventions (Bamber, & Schneider, 2016; Dvořáková et al., 2017; Hidman, 2013; Miller et al. 2019; Regehr et al., 2013) and a growth mindset (Blackwell et al., 2007; Boaler et al., 2018; May, 2009) have a positive effect on student stress, anxiety, and academic success. This mixed-method study focused on the unSTUCK strategy’s impact, a mindfulness-inspired tool, on foundation math students. The unSTUCK strategy is a mindfulness-inspired program. The …

Growth Mindset: A Key To Motivating Students In Reading, Jenny M. Reid

Masters Theses

If students believe the possibilities for attaining knowledge are boundless, they will be capable of reaching those heights. However, if students feel as though they are restricted by what nature and genetics have gifted them, their learning will remain within those boundaries. This is what stands as the difference between a growth and fixed mindset, which affects will be analyzed pertaining to student progress and motivation in literacy. A third-grade class was observed over six weeks to explore what the teacher believes about her students’ reading abilities as well as what the students believe about their reading abilities. These beliefs …

Self-Assessment And The Growth Mindset Of Middle School Students, Julie Gross

Master of Education Program Theses

This action research study investigated the effects of self-assessment on the growth and fixed mindsets of students. Twenty-six 6th grade students in a private school in northwest Iowa participated in the study. Each student took a pre-survey at the beginning of the study to determine whether they had a strong growth mindset, moderate growth mindset, moderate fixed mindset, or strong fixed mindset. Following the pre-survey, students participated in self-assessment experiences for nine weeks and an identical post-survey was given to determine if changes in mindset had occurred. In addition, nine students were interviewed at the conclusion of the study. Quantitative …

Tenth-Grade Student–Participants’ Perceptions Of A Growth Mindset Curriculum: An Action Research Study, Jennifer Jo L. Dufort

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action research study was to describe nine tenth-grade student-participants’ perceptions of a growth mindset curriculum based on the educational theory developed by Dweck (2006). The curriculum focused on the core aspects of Dweck’s (2006) theory: (a).understanding brain growth and neuroplasticity, (b) having a productive attitude about making mistakes and experiencing failure, and (c) expending effort and developing perseverance (Dweck, 2006). The teacher-researcher implemented the Growth Mindset Unit in a small high school in a coastal town in southern Maine during the teacher- researcher’s advisory class. The school has a proficiency-based grading system in which students benefit …

Feedback And Growth Mindset: Nurturing A Growth Mindset Through Feedback With Middle School Students, Lori Carpenter

Master of Education Program Theses

The purpose of this research study was to explore how a teacher can nurture a growth mindset in students using feedback and assessment, inviting them to take initiative and responsibility in their learning process. The research questions sought to answer how a teacher’s beliefs about the malleability of intelligence and ability impacts students’ beliefs and mindset as well as to explore the practices used by teachers in giving feedback to students that nurture a growth mindset. Five teachers, along with their classes of middle school students, were surveyed to assess mindset towards learning. To dig deeper into the questions of …

Latino Students’ Stories Of Advanced Placement Success: A Critical Case Study, Marcie S. Plummer

Dissertations

Purpose: This qualitative, critical case study identified and described culture factors Latino students in Monterey County, California, perceive influenced academic success in Advanced Placement (AP) courses.

Methodology: This qualitative research design explored the phenomenon of internal and external culture factors Latino students perceive influenced academic success in AP courses. Through semistructured focus group and follow-up interviews, the researcher gathered detailed data on each factor and how it influenced academic success. Using Perna and Thomas’s (2008) student success framework, some success factors were revealed as interdependent.

Findings: Factors that influenced Latino students’ academic success in AP courses included support by teachers, …

Learning From Failure: An Action Research Case Study On Developing Growth Mindset Through Academic Risk-Taking In An Athletic Training Program, Sarah B. Rabe

Education Dissertations and Projects

The employment of academic risk-taking and growth mindset instructional practices in educational fields, though supported in literature, is limited and not commonly documented in the classroom. The purpose of this action research case study was to determine the impact of facilitation of growth mindset through modification of instructional practices in athletic training clinical courses at an Institution of Higher Learning. Constructive failure and growth mindset theories supported the mixed-methods research approach and the modification of instructional practices made during the study. Data were collected through growth mindset and academic risk-taking instruments and through semi-structured survey questions. The data analysis was …

The Impact Of Teaching Growth Mindset On Archery Skill Achievement: An Action Research Study, Phillip Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

Although setbacks and failure are common in school, especially in outdoor adventure physical education classes, the ways in which students handle those setbacks and failure impact their academic achievement and performance. This dissertation describes a problem of practice based on observations of how the researcher’s students handle setbacks and failure in his outdoor adventure education class, specifically how these setbacks and failure affect the students’ archery performance. This study examined how teaching noncognitive skills using the computer program Brainology impacts student skill performance in archery and the students’ perceptions of this impact. This study used a concurrent mixed methods action …