Research Article
When Teachers Become Students: Impacts of Neuroscience Learning on Elementary Teachers’ Mindset Beliefs, Approach to Learning, Teaching Efficacy, and Grit

C. Anne Gutshall

1006 1170

Article Metrics

Views

 

1006

Downloads

 

1170

Citations

Crossref

0


Gutshall . When teachers become students: impacts of neuroscience learning on elementary teachers’ mindset beliefs, approach to learning, teaching efficacy, and grit. European J Psychol E. 2020;3(1):39-48. doi: 10.12973/ejper.3.1.39
Gutshall, C. A. (2020). When teachers become students: impacts of neuroscience learning on elementary teachers’ mindset beliefs, approach to learning, teaching efficacy, and grit. European Journal of Psychology and Educational Research, 3(1), 39-48. https://doi.org/10.12973/ejper.3.1.39
Gutshall C. Anne. "When Teachers Become Students: Impacts of Neuroscience Learning on Elementary Teachers’ Mindset Beliefs, Approach to Learning, Teaching Efficacy, and Grit," European Journal of Psychology and Educational Research 3, no. 1 (2020): 39-48. https://doi.org/10.12973/ejper.3.1.39
Gutshall, C 2020, 'When teachers become students: impacts of neuroscience learning on elementary teachers’ mindset beliefs, approach to learning, teaching efficacy, and grit', European Journal of Psychology and Educational Research, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 39-48. Gutshall, C. Anne. "When Teachers Become Students: Impacts of Neuroscience Learning on Elementary Teachers’ Mindset Beliefs, Approach to Learning, Teaching Efficacy, and Grit." European Journal of Psychology and Educational Research, vol. 3, no. 1, 2020, pp. 39-48, https://doi.org/10.12973/ejper.3.1.39.

Abstract

Previous research suggests that learning basic neuroscience constructs, especially about the malleability of the brain, impacts middle school and older students’ academic mindset, response to failure and academic persistence.  This research targets teacher beliefs using a similar model.  Teachers were taught introductory neuroscience concepts related to how the brain learns.  Session topics included: basic neurodevelopment, neuroplasticity, sleep and the brain, stress and the brain, exercise and the brain, growth mindset, growth mindset feedback, self- control and grit.   Results of this school level intervention suggest significant impacts on teachers’ mindset, teaching efficacy, teachers’ approach to learning and grit.  In particular, teacher mindset beliefs significantly increased after the teachers were taught the concepts.  Implications for schools and teacher preparation are discussed.

Keywords: Neuroscience learning, teacher mindset beliefs, teacher efficacy


References

Ames, C. (1992).  Classrooms: Goals, structures, and student motivation.  Journal of Educational Psychology, 84(3), 261-271.

Aronson, J., Fried, C. B., & Good, C. (2002). Reducing the effects of stereotype threat on African American college students by shaping theories of intelligence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38(2), 113-125.

Bandura, A. (1977).  Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change.  Psychological Review, 84(2). 191-215.

Bandy, T., & Moore, K. A. (2010). Assessing self-regulation: A guide for out-of-school time program practitioners. PsycEXTRA Dataset.

Bellert, A., & Graham, L. (2013). Neuromyths and neurofacts: Information from cognitive neuroscience for classroom and learning support teachers.  Special Education Perspectives, 22(2), 7-20.

Blackwell, L. S., Trzesniewski, K. H., & Dweck, C. S. (2007).  Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention.  Child Development, 780(1), 246-263.

Brabeck, M. (2008).  Putting clinical findings to work in the classroom. Education Week.

Carew, T., & Magsamen, S. (2010). Neuroscience and education: An ideal partnership for producing evidence- based solutions to guide 21rst century learning, Neuron, 67(5), 685-688.

Donohoo, J. ( 2017).  Collective efficacy: How educators beliefs impact student learning. Corwin.

Dubinsky, J., Roehrig, G., & Varma, S. (2013).  Infusing neuroscience into teacher professional development.  Educational Researcher, 42(6), 317-329. 

Duckworth, A. (2016).  Grit: The power and passion of perseverance. Scribner.

Duckworth, A., Quinn, P., & Seligman, M. (2009).  Positive predictors of teacher effectiveness. Journal of Positive Psychology, 4(6), 540-547.

Duckworth, A., & Quinn, P. (2009). Development and validation of the short grit sale (Grit-S).  Journal of Personality Assessment, 91(2), 166-174.

Duckworth, A., Peterson, C., Mathews, M., & Kelly, D. (2007).  Grit: Perseverance and passion for long-term goals.  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(6), 166-174.

Duckworth, A., & Seligman, M. (2005).  Self-Discipline outdoes IQ in predicting academic performance of adolescents.  Psychological Science, 16(12), 939-944.

Duckworth, A. L., Grant, H., Loew, B., Oettingen, G., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2011).  Self-regulation strategies improve self-discipline in adolescents: Benefits of mental contrasting and implementation intentions.  Educational Psychology, 31(1), 17-26.

Duckworth, A., Tsukayama, E., & Kirby T. (2013).  Is it really self-control?  Examining the predictive power of the delay of gratification task.  Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39(7), 843-855.

Dweck, C. S. (2006).  Mindset.  Random House.

Dweck, C. S. (2008). Brainology: Transforming students’ motivation to learn.  National Association of Independent Schools. https://www.stns.org/downloads/NAISBrainology.CarolDweck.pdf

Dweck, C., Chiu, C., & Hong, Y. (1995). Implicit theories and their role in judgments and  reactions: A word from two perspectives. Psychological Inquiry, 6(4), 267–285.

Dweck, C., & Leggett, E. (1988). A social-cognitive approach to motivation and personality. Psychological Review, 95(2), 256-273.

Elliot, A. J. (2005).  A conceptual history of the achievement goal construct.  In A. J. Elliot & C. S. Dweck (Eds.), Handbook of competence and motivation (pp. 2-72). Guilford Publications. 

Farrington, C. A., Roderick, M., Allensworth, E., Nagaoka, J., Keyes, T. S., Johnson, D., & Beechum, N. O. (2012).  Teaching adolescents to become learners: The role of non-cognitive factors in shaping school performance. University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research.

Goddard, R., Hoy, W., & Woolfolk Hoy, A. (2000).  Collective teacher efficacy: Its meaning, measure, and impact on student achievement.  American Educational Research Journal, 37(2), 479-507.

Gutshall, C. A. (2013). Teachers’ mindsets for students with and without disabilities. Psychology in the Schools, 50(10), 1073-1083. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.21725

Gutshall, C. A. (2016). Student perceptions of teachers’ mindset beliefs in the classroom.  Journal of Educational and Developmental Psychology, 6(2), 135-142.

Gutshall, C. A., & Attafi, H. (2020).  BrainBuilders: Teachers and students learning neuroscience together in the elementary school setting. Manuscript in preparation.

Haimovitz, K., & Dweck, C. (2016). What predicts children’s fixed and growth intelligence mindsets? Not their parents’ views of intelligence but their parents’ views of failure. Psychological Science, 27(6), 859-869.

Hattie, J. (2017). Ten mindframes for visible learning: Teaching for success. Corwin Press.

Hattie, J., & Zierer, K. (2018).  Ten mind frames for visible learning: Teaching for success.  Routledge. 

Hong, Y., Chiu, C., Dweck, C. S., Lin, D. M.-S., & Wan, W. (1999) Implicit theories, attributions, and coping: A meaning system approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(3), 588–599.

Komarraju, M., & Nadler, D. (2013). Self-efficacy and academic achievement: Why do implicit beliefs, goals, and effort regulation matter? Learning and Individual Differences, 25, 67-72.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2013.01.005

Lee, H. Y., Jamieson, J. P., Miu, A. S., Josephs, R. A., & Yeager, D. S. (2019) An entity theory of intelligence predicts higher cortisol levels when high school grades are declining. Child Development, 90(6), 849‐867. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13116

Liew, J., McTigue, E., Barrois, L., & Hughes, J. (2008).  Adaptive and effortful control and academic self-efficacy beliefs on achievement: A longitudinal study of 1rst through 3rd graders.  Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 23(4), 515-526. 

Mangels, J. A., Butterfield, B., Lamb, J., Good, C. D., & Dweck, C.S. (2006). Why do beliefs about intelligence influence learning success? A social-cognitive-neuroscience model. Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience, 1(2), 75–86.

Meece, J., Anderman, E., & Anderman, L. (2006).  Classroom goal structure, student motivation, and academic achievement.  Annual Reviews of Psychology, 57, 487-503. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.56.091103.070258

Midgely, C., Anderman, E., & Hicks, L. (1995).  Differences between elementary and middle school teachers and students: A goal theory approach.  The Journal of Early Adolescence, 15(1), 90-113.

Midgley, C., Maehr, M., Hruda, L, Anderman, E, Anderman, L., Freeman, K., & Urdan, T. (2000).  Manual for the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Scales. University of Michigan.

Moller, J., Pohlmann, B., Koller, O., & Marsh, H. (2009).  A meta-analytic path analysis of the internal/external frame of reference model of academic achievement and academic self-concept.  Review of Educational Research, 79(3), 1129-1167.

Morisano, D., Hirsh, J. B., Peterson, J. B., Pihl, R. O., & Shore, B. M. (2010).  Setting, elaborating, and reflecting on personal goals improves, academic performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(2), 255-264.

Patterson, M. M., Kravchencho, N., Chen-Bouck, L., & Kelley, J. A. (2016).  General and domain-specific beliefs about intelligence ability and effort among preservice and practicing teachers.  Teaching and Teacher Education, 59, 180-190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2016.06.004

Rattan, A., Good, C., & Dweck, C. S. (2012). “It's ok — Not everyone can be good at math”: Instructors with an entity theory comfort (and demotivate) students. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48(3), 731-737. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2011.12.012

Robertson-Kraft, C., & Duckworth, A. L. (2014). True grit: Trait-level perseverance and passion for long-term goals predicts effectiveness and retention among novice teachers. Teachers College Record, 116(3), 1-8.

Shim, S., Cho, Y., & Cassady, J. (2013).  Goal structures: The role of teacher’s achievement goals and theories of intelligence.  The Journal of Experimental Education, 81(1), 84-104.

Snipes, J., & Tran, L. (2017). Growth mindset, performance avoidance, and academic behaviors in Clark County School District (REL 2017-226).  Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Regional Educational Laboratory West.

Snipes, J., Fancsali, C., & Stoker, G. (2012).  Student academic mindset interventions: A review of the current landscape.  Stupski Foundation.

SRI International (2018). Promoting grit, tenacity, and perseverance: Critical factors for success in the 21st century. SRI International. https://www.sri.com/work/publications/ promoting-grit-tenacity-and-perseverance-critical-factors-success-21st-century.

Tirri, K., & Kujala, T. (2016).  Students’ mindsets for learning and their neural underpinnings. Psychology, 7(09), 1231-1239.

Willingham, D. T. (2016). Ask the Cognitive Scientist: "Grit" Is Trendy, but Can It Be Taught? American Educator, 2016(Summer), 28-44.

Wolters, C. A., & Daugherty, S. G. (2007).  Goal structures and teachers’ sense of efficacy: Their relation and association to teaching experience and academic level.  Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(1), 181-193. 

Yeager, D. S., & Dweck, C. S. (2012).  Mindsets that promote resilience: When students believe that personal characteristics can be developed.  Educational Psychologist, 47(4), 302-314.

Yeager, D. S., Hanselman, P., Walton, G. M., Murray, J. S., Crosnoe, R., Muller, C., Tipton, E., Schneider, B., Hulleman, C. S., Hinojosa, C. P., Paunesku, D., Romero, C., Flint, K., Roberts, A., Trott, J., Iachan, R., Buontempo, J., Yang, S. M., Carvalho, C. M., Hahn, P. R., … Dweck, C. S. (2019). A national experiment reveals where a growth mindset improves achievement. Nature573(7774), 364–369. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1466-y

Zimmerman, B. J. (1989).  A social cognitive view of self-regulated academic learning.  Journal of Educational Psychology, 81(3), 329-339.