What Are Learning Mindsets?
Learning mindsets are an individual’s beliefs about learning that shape how they interpret difficulty. Three learning mindsets we focus on are:
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Growth Mindset (G): The belief that abilities can be developed through hard work, the use of effective strategies, and help from others when needed. (“Can I do this?”)
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Purpose & Relevance (P): The belief that one’s schoolwork is valuable because it is connected to a larger purpose and/or relevant to one’s life. (“Do I want to do this?”)
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Sense of Belonging (S): The belief that one is academically and socially connected, supported, and respected. (“Do I belong here?”)
Together, these mindsets form the acronym Mindset GPS, and they help people navigate their learning and learning contexts.
Learning mindsets are critical predictors of students’ performance and decisions to stay in college. They are:
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Meaningful—They are related to academic success and students' well-being.
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Measurable—They can be assessed and tracked.
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Malleable—They can be altered through targeted activities.
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More effective—They are more effective for students from underserved backgrounds.
TBR Mindset Resource Repository
This Mindset Resource Repository was created in collaboration with Motivate Lab to provide resources, handouts, and templates that any educator can use to add mindset-supportive activities, language, and best practices to their course.
Informational Overviews
Informational Overviews provide background knowledge, definitions, and summaries of the theory and research that underlie mindset-supportive practices in this repository.
Practice Overviews
Practice Overviews provide an initial introduction to specific mindset-supportive practices, explaining what they are, why they matter, and how they connect to research.
Practice Guides
Practice Guides provide detailed, step-by-step instructions for implementing a specific mindset-supportive practice in your work with students.
Coming Soon: Updated Resources
The below resources will be updated to a new template soon. As each update is completed, the new resource will be moved into the above sections for Informational Overviews, Practice Overviews, or Practice Guides.
Publications
- Learning Mindsets Matter for Students in Corequisite Courses (Strong Start to Finish report)
- Improving Community College Students’ Success in Math (The Journal of Experimental Education article)
- Learning Contexts Matter (Motivation Science journal article)
Grant Connections
The Tennessee Board of Regents would like to acknowledge and thank our grant funder, Ascendium Education Group, and our research partner, Motivate Lab, for supporting the creation of this resource repository.
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Questions
For any questions about these resources, please contact Emma Huelskoetter, TBR's Coordinator of Campus Mindset Interventions, at emma.huelskoetter@tbr.edu or 629-216-4084.