top of page
23 NC Poster Gallery Header LARGE.png

Poster Number

7

An Intervention to Improve Student Mindset in College Courses

scroll

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.

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.

Hear it from the author:

An Intervention to Improve Student Mindset in College CoursesChristopher Holland, Cabrini University
00:00 / 00:41

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.

REFERENCES:

Cardinale, J. A., & Johnson, B. C. (2017). Metacognition modules: A scaffolded series of online 

     assignments designed to improve students’ study skills. Journal of Microbiology & Biology 

     Education, 18(1), 18-1.
Duckworth, A. L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M. D., & Kelly, D. R. (2007). Grit: Perserverance and passion for 

     long-term goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(6), 1087-1101.
Ghassemi, M., Bernecker, K., Herrmann, M., & Brandstätter, V. (2017). The process of disengagement 

     from personal goals: Reciprocal influences between the experience of action crisis and appraisals of 

     goal desirability and attainability. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 43(4), 524-537.
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.

bottom of page