Influence of Seventh- and Ninth-Grade Science Teachers' Mind-Set Statements on Students' Motivational Beliefs

• In Event: Advances in Mind-Set Research

Abstract

This study describes the nature and frequency of mindset-related statements that science teachers made during instruction. Considerable variation was observed between teachers and within teachers by class period. The association between those statements and students’ motivational beliefs (mastery-goal orientation, success expectancies, and negative-effort beliefs) was tested at the end of the school year and compared between students participating in a mindset intervention relative to those in the comparison group. Controlling for initial beliefs and background characteristic, HLM analyses with students nested in class periods revealed that teachers’ growth-mindset statements had a consistent positive long-term impact on their students’ motivational beliefs. That impact was most pronounced for students who were not participants in the intervention.

Authors

• Lee Shumow, Northern Illinois University

• Jennifer A. Schmidt, Michigan State University

• Hayal Zeynep Kackar-Cam, Northern Illinois University