PULLMAN, Wash. – A study conducted by Washington State University (WSU) has found that notifying students of their instructors’ growth mindset results in better grades for first generation students.
According to WSU’s Tuesday release, growth mindset refers to “the belief that abilities are not innate but can be improved.”
WSU psychology researcher and lead author of the study Elizabeth Canning and graduate student Makita White used an 400-student introductory biology class to conduct their research.
Dividing the class evenly into an experimental and control group, Canning and White found that first-generation students who received growth mindset emails after taking their initial exams did better in the course overall than students who received standard emails without any mention of the growth mindset.
Averaging one-third of a grade higher, the research showed that first-generation students from the experimental group performed just as well as students whose parents had graduated college, which the release refers to as “continuing-generation” students.
“It’s a pretty sizable effect,” said Canning. “Many studies have shown that continuing generation students outperform first-generation students, but in the condition where we sent emails from the instructor that had growth mindset language, we saw that difference in performance completely go away.”
Based on a scientific theory that Canning refers to as “wise interventions”, the growth mindset emails reportedly emphasized the possibility of improving in the class even after receiving a low grade.
Because the study was conducted in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic when classes were strictly online, researchers were able to track students’ online decisions. In doing so, they found that the students in the experimental group directed themselves to the course website, accessed materials from lectures and studied online notes more often.
Not only that, but the first-generation students in the experimental group received the highest grades in the whole course compared to the control group.
According to the professor of the WSU introductory biology class, Bill Davis, the course often determines whether or not a student will continue on to a medical or scientific career.
Representing one third of all college students, first-generation college students reportedly tend to struggle more than their continued-generation peers because their parents do not have university-experience, according to the release. Additionally, first-generation students reportedly ask fewer questions and usually do not access class resources.
“Just for equity reasons, it’s important to help first-generation students,” said Canning. “But especially in STEM fields, to keep up with medical advances and rapidly changing technology, we need capable students who have a foundation in science, so retaining them is especially important.”
As a result of the study, Canning’s team of researchers received a $10,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to facilitate a larger, national study examining the impacts that growth mindset intervention has on minority students.
