A Growth Mindset Intervention with Elementary-Age Children

Growth Mindset has become a popular topic in education over the last decade. It refers to a theory of intelligence developed by Carol Dweck in which it is believed that a person can increase their intelligence through hard work, dedication, and commitment to the educational process. Many of Dweck’s research has consisted of work with middle school and high school students. However, this theory has gained significant popularity in elementary schools, with many hallways adorned with popular growth mindset phrases and classroom activities. Brainology is a research-based intervention program created by MindsetWorks, Inc. with the purpose of developing a growth mindset for students. This quasi-experimental study sought to be the first of its kind by utilizing Brainology in an elementary school setting while examining this interventions’ effectiveness with third grade students. The Brainology program was delivered to students over a six-week time period from May 2019 through June 2019. Pretest and posttest data were collected via the Mindset Assessment Profile (MAP) and a comparison group was used as a control for the experimental group. At the end of the intervention, a multiple regression analysis was used to examine the data. This model was chosen in order to determine the influence that a growth mindset intervention would have on student mindset, when controlling for gender, prior mindset, and participation in the intervention. Overall results were significant, especially for gender (females) and pretest score. The results indicated that students began the study endorsing a high score on the MAP indicating a growth mindset. However, the validity of the MAP assessment was questioned based on a review of past studies utilizing a similar measure created by Dweck. Therefore, further research in needed to establish this intervention as a reliable method for increasing mindset with all elementary-age children