Presented by:
Christopher Holland, Cabrini University
Ruta Clair, Cabrini University
Key Statement:
Psychology research shows student's mindset can be vital to success. We designed and tested a quick and simple intervention to improve mindset in college students.
Abstract:
Student’s view of themselves in the classroom and their thoughts about learning (i.e. metacognition) plays a role in academic success that is separate from the role of teachers or individual capability. Based on a module technique, we designed and tested an intervention aimed to improve specific facets of student mindset, such as self-concept, grit, or academic locus of control. The intervention was conducted in actual college courses with Cabrini University students (n = 54). Results showed that some facets of mindset improved significantly over the course of the intervention. We discuss future directions for research based on our initial results.
Keywords:
Psychology, Metacognition, Self-Efficacy
Learning Outcomes:
1. Describe the role that metacognition and mindset play in student learning.
2. Understand the role interventions can possibly play in affecting student mindset.
3. Consider use of simple interventions to help improve mindset, and hopefully, student success in the classroom.



Hear it from the author:
TRANSCRIPT:
Student success depends on mindset as well as capability. We wanted to devise quick and lightweight modules that could be used in classrooms that have difficult subjects (especially something like statistics) with the hope of improving mindset in students. We targeted key psychological factors like self-efficacy, and found that our modules were associated with an improvement in some aspects of mindset that we measured. We want to refine and further test our intervention with the goal of having something many people could confidently use in their own classrooms.
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Hochanadel, A., & Finamore, D. (2015). Fixed and growth mindset in education and how grit helps
students persist in the face of adversity. Journal of International Education Research, 11(1), 47-50.