Executive Summary

Mindset Works' Growth Mindset Learning Platform (GMLP), funded by the U.S. Department of Education Instiute of Education Sciences, will be an integrated online platform to support educators and students in creating and sustaining a growth mindset culture to boost student motivation and achievement.

Purpose

Research has shown that the mindsets that students hold about their intellectual ability can have a significant impact on their motivation and success in school. When students have a growth mindset, in which they believe that intelligence can be developed (for example through effort and instruction) they seek more learning goals and challenges, see effort as a positive behavior, are more resilient in the face of failure, and achieve higher academic outcomes. A number of studies have demonstrated that interventions can influence a student's mindset and enhance academic outcomes. Other research has demonstrated how educators' mindsets influence students' mindsets, and how a growth mindset in educators results in higher performance for their students. Yet, few growth mindset-focused interventions have been developed and commercialized, and no comprehensive growth mindset intervention has been developed to change school or district culture. This project seeks to build and assess a Growth Mindset Learning Platform (GMLP) composed of software, technology-based professional development, tools and an online community to instill a growth mindset culture in schools with the objective of raising academic outcomes.

Project Activities

The project team is developing an integrated online platform to support educators and students in developing and sustaining a growth mindset to boost student motivation and achievement. The platform will incorporate an existing interactive, animated software program, Brainology®, designed by the Mindset Works team to teach students about how the brain learns and changes with effort and how to use effective study skills to increase learning. To support the efficacy of this program, we will develop an interactive online Professional Development Suite for educators, including research-based interactive Professional Development Modules and Webinars that teach educators how the brain learns, how a growth mindset promotes student motivation and achievement, and how to support this mindset in their students; an online Growth Mindset Toolkit with resources for teachers and students to use in the classroom; and an online professional learning community where educators can share questions, experiences, ideas, tools and strategies with colleagues and experts in the field. We will implement the platform in pilot schools, and evaluate its impact on teacher practices and student motivation and achievement.

Products

The Growth Mindset Learning Platform will consist of interactive multimedia applications for students and teachers, a resource bank, the Toolkit, with materials created by and for educators and students to put a growth mindset into practice, expert-led webinars, and an online community for growth mindset educators.

Principal Investigator

Lisa Sorich Blackwell

Award Period

2 ½ years

Award Amount

$849,473