In a previous post, I discussed a potential driving question for research and discussed the value of that line of research. That question was “What influence does a growth mindset towards mathematics have on standardized test performance?” Now onto some Need to Knows and Next Steps. Need to Knows:
Realistically, there are many more need to knows for this question but those are the most crucial to me at the moment of writing this. I am particularly concerned with Need to Know #2. Carol Dweck, a leading researcher on growth mindsets, released commentary on growth mindset in Education Week after her work begin to receive a large amount of public attention. That commentary can be found here. One issue Dweck discusses is that growth mindsets have seemed to become the “right” thing to have in education and, as is when things become the “correct” thing to do, many educators and students have developed ‘false’ growth mindsets. So, being able to measure a genuine growth mindset is crucial to the success of this research. It is also crucial that I can be sure that growth mindset encompasses mathematics. I believe that many pieces of our culture lend themselves naturally to a growth mindset. We, as a culture, tend to accept that in order to improve in sports and music you need to practice. We accept that those are areas where natural talent can take you far but hard work and experimentation also lead to greatness. In contrast, mathematics has a heavy stigma attached to it. Even people who do not consider themselves athletic can go to a gym and improve their physical health. I do not believe many people have the same attitude towards mathematics. The last large concern I have is Need to Know #5. How ethical is it to use a control group in this research? There is an abundance of research suggesting growth mindsets are powerful and valuable. However, there are education systems in the world that outperform America that do not seem to emphasize a growth mindset with their practices. So, is it unethical for me not do the growth mindset scans and activities with a control group? Even if it is ethical as a researcher, it does bother me as an educator to withhold what I believe to be a good instructional practice from students. To wrap up, I currently believe my next steps to be:
Any thoughts or suggestions?
2 Comments
2/17/2017 06:21:29 am
Patrick,
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Nai Saelee
2/21/2017 05:58:23 pm
Patrick,
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