Development of Associations between Elementary School Students’ Mindsets and Attentional Neural Processing of Feedback in an Arithmetic Task

The aim of this study was to examine the development of the associations between elementary school students’ mindsets and the attentional neural processing of positive and negative feedback in math. For this, we analyzed data collected twice from 100 Finnish elementary school students. During the autumn semesters of their 3rd and 4th grade, the participants’ general intelligence mindset and math ability mindset were measured with a questionnaire, and their brain responses elicited by performance-relevant feedback were recorded during an arithmetic task. We found that students’ fixed mindsets about general intelligence and math ability were associated with greater attention allocated to positive feedback as indicated by a larger P300. These associations were driven by the effects of mindsets on attention allocation to positive feedback in grade 4. Additionally, 4th graders’ more fixed general intelligence mindset was marginally associated with greater attention allocated to negative feedback. In addition, the effects of both mindsets on attention allocation to feedback were marginally stronger when the children were older. The present results, although marginal in the case of negative feedback and mainly driven by effects in grade 4, are possibly a reflection of the greater self-relevance of feedback stimuli for students with a more fixed mindset. It is also possible that these findings reflect the fact that, in evaluative situations, mindset could influence stimulus processing in general. The marginal increase in the effects of mindsets as children mature may reflect the development of coherent mindset meaning systems during elementary school years.Peer reviewe

Mindsets and neural mechanisms of automatic reactions to negative feedback in mathematics in elementary school students

Neuroscientific research regarding mindsets is so far scarce, especially among children. Moreover, even though research indicates the importance of domain-specificity of mindsets, this has not yet been investigated in neuroscientific studies regarding implicit beliefs. The purpose of this study was to examine general intelligence and math ability mindsets and their relations to automatic reactions to negative feedback in mathematics in the Finnish elementary school context. For this, event-related potentials of 97 elementary school students were measured during the completion of an age-appropriate math task, where the participants received performance-relevant feedback throughout the task. Higher growth mindset was marginally associated with a larger P300 response and significantly associated with a smaller later peaking negative-going waveform. Moreover, with the domain-specific experimental setting we found a higher growth mindset regarding math ability, but not general intelligence, to be associated with these brain responses elicited by negative feedback regarding errors in math. This suggests that it might be important to address domain-specific and even academic-domain-specific beliefs in addition to general mindsets in research and practice.Peer reviewe

Changes in physiological arousal during an arithmetic task : profiles of elementary school students and their associations with mindset, task performance and math grade

Peer reviewe

Elementary school students’ learning-related mindsets: Associations with physiological processes reflecting attention and vigilance during an arithmetic task

This doctoral thesis aims to contribute to the understanding of how elementary school students’ mindsets about intelligence and mathematical ability are associated with their reactions as they work on educationally relevant tasks. First, it studies how students’ mindsets are associated with their rapidly unfolding processing of performance information as indicated by neural correlates of error and feedback processing. Second, it examines the development of those links between students’ mindsets and their neural correlates of feedback processing. Third, it investigates how students’ mindsets are associated with the dynamics of their motivational processes as indicated by changes in their physiological arousal while working on a task. The thesis consists of four studies conducted among second to fourth-grade students in Finland (Studies I–IV). Study I involved the testing of the experimental design for examining associations between mindset and neural correlates of performance monitoring among Finnish lower elementary school students. Study II investigated the associations between third graders’ mindsets and their neural processing of performance feedback during an arithmetic task. Study III extended Study II by using a longitudinal design to inspect the development of associations between elementary school students’ mindsets and the attentional neural processing of performance feedback during an arithmetic task. Study IV investigated how fourth graders’ physiological arousal changed during a task and how these dynamics were associated with their mindset. The findings suggest that links between students’ mindsets and their psychophysiological processes emerge during the elementary school years (Study III). By the time students are in grade four, holding a more fixed mindset is linked to greater attention allocation to positive and negative performance feedback as indicated by students’ neural correlates of feedback processing (Study III). In addition to associations with the rapidly unfolding processing of feedback, students’ mindset is linked to their motivational processes while they work on a task as indicated by changes in their physiological arousal during the arithmetic task used in the study: students characterized by a more fixed mindset were more likely to display high physiological arousal at the beginning of the task, with this arousal gradually decreasing throughout the task (Study IV). Overall, the results of the thesis show that, by the fourth grade, students’ mindsets are associated with physiological processes reflecting attention and vigilance, at least in mathematics. This contributes to the understanding of the relationship between elementary school students’ mindsets and psychophysiological processes in educational settings.Tämä väitöskirja pyrkii lisäämään ymmärrystä siitä, miten alakouluikäisten oppilaiden älykkyyteen ja matematiikan osaamiseen liittyvät ajattelutavat [engl. mindsets] ovat yhteydessä heidän reaktioihinsa annetun tehtävän aikana. Väitöskirjassa tutkitaan, miten oppilaiden ajattelutavat liittyvät virheiden teon ja saadun palautteen käsittelyn synnyttämiin aivovasteisiin. Lisäksi työssä tarkastellaan oppilaiden ajattelutapojen ja palautteen käsittelyn hermostollisten vasteiden välisten yhteyksien kehittymistä. Väitöskirjan kolmantena aiheena on oppilaiden ajattelutavat ja niiden yhteys motivaatioon liittyvien prosessien dynamiikkaan, joka heijastuu fysiologisen vireystilan muuttumisena tehtävän suorittamisen aikana. Tämä väitöskirja koostuu neljästä tutkimuksesta, jotka toteutettiin 2.–4. -luokkalaisten lasten keskuudessa Suomessa (tutkimukset I-IV). Tutkimuksessa I suunniteltiin ja testattiin koeasetelma, jonka avulla tutkittiin alakoululaisten ajattelutapojen ja suoritukseen liittyvien aivovasteiden välisiä yhteyksiä. Tutkimuksessa II tarkasteltiin 3.-luokkalaisten ajattelutapojen ja heidän suorituksestaan saamaansa palautteeseen liittyvien aivovasteiden välisiä yhteyksiä aritmeettisen tehtävän aikana. Tutkimuksessa III laajennettiin tutkimusta II käyttämällä pitkittäisasetelmaa. Tavoitteena oli tarkastella alakoululaisten ajattelutapojen ja heidän saamaansa palautteeseen liittyvien aivovasteiden välisten yhteyksien kehittymistä. Tutkimuksessa IV selvitettiin miten 4.-luokkalaisten fysiologinen vireystila muuttuu tehtävän aikana ja miten tämä dynamiikka liittyy heidän ajattelutapaansa. Tulokset viittaavat siihen, että oppilaiden ajattelutapojen ja heidän psykofysiologisten prosessiensa väliset yhteydet kehittyvät peruskouluvuosien aikana (tutkimus III). Neljännellä luokalla oppilaiden älykkyyteen ja matemaattiseen osaamiseen liittyvä muuttumaton ajattelutapa on yhteydessä suurempaan huomion kiinnittämiseen positiiviseen ja negatiiviseen suorituspalautteeseen aritmeettisen tehtävän aikana, joka näkyy palautteen käsittelyyn liittyvissä aivovasteissa (tutkimus III). Sen lisäksi, että oppilaiden ajattelutapa on yhteydessä palautteen käsittelyä heijastaviin aivovasteisiin, se on yhteydessä myös motivaatioon liittyviin prosesseihin tehtävän suorituksen aikana. Tämä näkyy fysiologisen vireystilan muutoksina matemaattisen tehtävän aikana: oppilailla, joille on ominaista muuttumaton ajattelutapa, on tehtävän alussa todennäköisemmin korkea fysiologinen vireystila, joka laskee vähitellen tehtävän aikana (tutkimus IV). Kaiken kaikkiaan tämän väitöskirjan tulokset osoittavat, että neljännellä luokalla oppilaiden ajattelutapa on yhteydessä tarkkaavaisuuteen ja valppauteen liittyviin fysiologisiin prosesseihin, ainakin matematiikassa. Tulokset tuovat uutta tietoa alakouluikäisten oppilaiden ajattelutapojen hermostollisesta pohjasta ja niiden yhteyksistä kehollisiin reaktioihin

Implementing and evaluating growth mindset pedagogy : A study of Finnish elementary school teachers

This article presents a study of five teachers at a Finnish elementary school who implemented and evaluated growth mindset pedagogy (GMP). The teachers received GMP training and conducted student interventions in their classrooms. We analyzed the impact of GMP on the teacher's pedagogical thinking and practices and found significant differences between fixed-mindset and growth-mindset teachers in the ways they internalized and applied GMP principles. The most important value of GMP was seen in its impact on emotion regulation through the normalization of hardship in learning. We discuss the dangers of a superficial understanding of growth mindsets in education.Peer reviewe

The Interplay Between Students’ Learning-Related Beliefs, Reading Comprehension Strategies and Academic Success

Peer reviewe