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A learner's Mindset is a lens through which children see the world, which affects their beliefs, attributions, attitudes, and behaviors that can either help or hinder their learning. A learner's Mindset about their intelligence and abilities, for example, can have a huge impact on how they approach learning challenges and in turn impacts academic achievement achievement. Environmental factors ranging from feedback from teachers and caregivers, adults' reactions to mistakes, or school and classroom performance indicators, play an influential role in the development of children's Learner Mindsets. Therefore, throughout the school years, educators and caregivers can play an important role in facilitating positive Learner Mindsets.
How children think about and respond to situations impacts how they perceive their ability to learn and handle problems that come their way. For example, children may believe that they have a certain amount of intelligence that they cannot do much to change (a "fixed mindset"). Or, children can view intelligence as something that can be developed through hard work, good strategies, and input from others (known as the "growth mindset”). As a result, children with growth mindsets see failure and effort as useful and necessary for learning. Importantly, mindsets vary by context: children can feel more or less oriented towards growth (or fixed) mindsets in response to different challenges, at different times, and across different disciplines and areas.
When children are given the support and opportunities that promote their sense of self as capable and ever-growing learners, they can develop the capacity to see themselves as problem solvers capable of addressing challenges that present themselves. In turn, children improve their skills for effectively solving problems that may challenge them. These mindsets are also related to other beliefs and perceptions of abilities and attributes that influence Motivation and learning including:
Educators can support a Learner Mindset by demonstrating the values of challenges as well as providing feedback that highlights these values, for example, focusing learners' Attention on the process of learning, for instance by trying multiple different learning strategies. To that end, it is important that educators provide many opportunities for students to practice with feedback, and encourage development of mastery through mistakes and challenges rather than focusing on underlying abilities. In addition, research shows that educators' own beliefs and mindsets can influence their students' Learner Mindset, which can be particularly important for those students who may not hold a growth mindset, including those who may have lower academic self-efficacy, such as students with learning disabilities and ADHD or who have been historically and systematically excluded.
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