It is common to distinguish between two types of mindsets: a Fixed Mindset and a Growth Mindset. Individuals with a dominant fixed mindset believe that abilities and intelligence are fixed, unchangeable, and rooted in innate traits. In contrast, individuals with a dominant growth mindset believe that abilities and intelligence can be developed and improved through learning, effort, and persistence. These dominant mindsets lead individuals to adopt different behaviors across various areas of life and, as a result, lead to different levels of achievement.
Research indicates that learners with a growth mindset perceive learning as an ongoing process that includes setbacks and failures. They tend to invest effort and persist in the learning process and in addressing the challenges it presents, for example by engaging in new experiences. They may also perceive the cognitive load arising from learning tasks as lower than learners who do not possess a growth mindset. According to these studies, learners with a growth mindset achieve higher levels of performance than those with a fixed mindset, both in terms of the knowledge learned and in their ability to transfer that knowledge.
An educational approach that supports growth mindset skills focuses on learning over time and emphasizes problem-solving, learning from failure, providing feedback that focuses on learning progress rather than on final outcomes, and encouraging reflection on personal patterns of thinking. Such an educational approach should shift the focus away from fixed perceptions of students’ abilities and avoid separating learners according to perceived ability levels. This is important in order to prevent the reinforcement of inherent inequalities that may harm learners’ self-image and perpetuate problematic social patterns.
Scientific practices, including citizen science projects, inherently incorporate opportunities to engage with long-term learning processes that involve investigating complex problems, dealing with uncertainty during inquiry, and encountering dead ends. These experiences provide opportunities to practice, develop, and assess growth mindset skills. For example, in the project “Sleep: One Third of Life,” students formulate hypotheses regarding adolescents’ sleep habits and test these hypotheses using data from sleep diaries they collect. Through this learning process, students learn how to identify patterns in data that either refute or confirm their hypotheses. This process includes many challenges stemming from the nature of the collected data and the complexity of the phenomenon under investigation. Students in the project frequently encounter dead ends that require them to choose new directions for inquiry. Such experiences support the development of skills associated with a growth mindset.
Deepening and Expansion ▼
Development of the concept of “Growth Mindset”
In 2006, Professor Carol Dweck published the book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, which summarized key findings from her research on the nature and effects of different mindsets. The book quickly became a New York Times bestseller, was widely featured in international media, and was translated into more than twenty languages. In this work, Dweck synthesized evidence from decades of research showing that when students develop a growth mindset, they rely on the belief that intelligence is flexible and can develop over time. For children with a growth mindset, the goal is not to complete tasks without mistakes, but to learn over time, overcoming challenges and making progress (Dweck, 2016).
Changing mindsets
Mindsets can be changed by raising awareness of the differences between types of thinking and through deliberate practice (Pueschel & Tucker, 2018). When students understand that the brain is flexible and that its capabilities can grow and develop, similar to how physical abilities are strengthened, the likelihood increases that they will persist rather than give up when encountering obstacles and challenges. To cultivate a growth mindset in the classroom, teachers can present the benefits of a growth mindset, teach skills that support its development (such as problem-solving), and create learning opportunities in which students reflect on their own patterns of thinking.
Growth mindset and problem solving
Marvin Minsky (2018), a philosopher and scientist and one of the pioneers of robotics and artificial intelligence, challenged the educational assumption that intelligence is fixed and unchangeable. In his writings on human intelligence, Minsky proposed an approach suggesting that learners can be “programmed” to improve and change through continuous practice in solving problems. In this approach, teachers encourage students to attempt solving problems even when they do not immediately arrive at a solution, emphasizing that mistakes are permissible and expected. Strategies of thinking about thinking (reflection) are also emphasized. Instructional models derived from this perspective encourage learning from failures and emphasize the process of attempting to understand solutions rather than focusing solely on the solution itself. In other words, emphasis is placed on the effort, the collection of information, and the engagement with the task, even if the attempt does not ultimately lead to a successful outcome.
Growth mindset and its influence on learning processes and outcomes
A recent study (2021) examined how a growth mindset influences learning processes and outcomes among high school students. In the experimental group, students received information about brain functioning that encouraged them to believe that ability is a developing trait. In the control group, students received general information about brain functioning that did not refer to the malleability of intelligence.
The findings were analyzed across three parameters:
Learning performance – Students in the experimental group achieved higher learning outcomes than students in the control group, both in knowledge of the studied topic and in the ability to transfer that knowledge.
Perceived cognitive load – Students whose intervention encouraged a growth mindset perceived the cognitive load of the learning task as lower compared with the control group, even though both groups studied the same topic.
Motivational orientation – Students in the experimental group who reported prior knowledge of the studied topic demonstrated higher motivation compared with students in the control group. Among students who reported little prior knowledge, no difference in motivational orientation was found between the groups.
These findings suggest that promoting and encouraging a growth mindset positively influences learning (Xu et al., 2021).
References ▼
Dweck, C. (2008). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Keter.
Blackwell, L., Trzesniewski, K., & Dweck, C. (2007). Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention. Child Development.
Dweck, C. (2016). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Ballantine Books.
Dweck, C., Paunesku, D., & Claro, S. (2016). Growth mindset tempers the effects of poverty on academic achievement. PNAS.
Jones, S. M., & Kahn, J. (2017). The evidence base for how we learn: Supporting students' social, emotional, and academic development. Aspen Institute.
Kali, Y. (2006). Collaborative knowledge-building using the Design Principles Database. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 1(2), 187–201.
Minsky, M. (2018). Inventive minds: Marvin Minsky on education. MIT Press.
Pueschel, A., & Tucker, M. L. (2018). Achieving grit through the growth mindset. Journal of Instructional Pedagogies, 20.
Xu, K. M., et al. (2021). A growth mindset lowers perceived cognitive load and improves learning: Integrating motivation with cognitive load. Journal of Educational Psychology, 113(6), 1177–1191.