Education Commons^™

Increasing Growth Mindsets In Rural Adolescents, Jessica Hernandez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Individuals who have fixed mindsets may be pessimistic, lack self-esteem, and have a poor self-image because they believe that their abilities are fixed and cannot be changed. Many adolescents who grow up in small, rural, isolated areas may develop a fixed mindset because of few opportunities in their immediate environment and little change or progress evident in their communities. In order to address the potential development of fixed mindsets, I created a two-day lesson on cultivating growth versus fixed mindsets for high school juniors at Needles High School in Needles, California.