The main aim of the project was to establish if incorporating a growth mindset would help raise attainment and reduce the number of un-attempted questions with an S3 biology class. This group was targeted because they were a mixed ability class with the potential to do well. However, they had a poor record on homework, classwork questions were not completed, and tests often had questions that were not attempted. Discussions with the class highlighted that they skipped over anything they considered to be difficult or challenging.
The aim of the project was to teach pupils methods to use in class and at home to help them deal with challenging content. We wanted to build their confidence through appropriate use of praise and help them to view challenge as a good thing. We focused on the use of ‘ask 3 before me’, a strategy that encourages pupils to access various sources of information on their own, helping them achieve success by taking responsibility for finding the answers. By helping pupils to embrace and work through challenging content, we hoped this would help them in tests and exams.
Overall, we believe that the project was successful, however, the results weren’t as strong as we had hoped. As part of the ‘ask 3 before me’ strategy, we encouraged pupils to use their shoulder partners, their classmates, class resources (textbooks) and the internet to help find answers. It was important to build relationships across the class to allow pupils to ask for and offer help. It proved difficult to try and overcome the competitive nature of pupils who viewed success as outperforming others. It took time for them to learn that we all succeed together, and that learning is not a race. From our classroom observations, we believe we made steps forward with this but that there was still some way to go.
We also found it hard to implement appropriate praise. We were used to issuing praise too easily and focussing on correct answers rather than effort. We spent time researching praise and found several useful tools which proved helpful to teachers and the pupils. Pupil effort increased over the course of the project as we adjusted to our new way of working.
Moving forward, we intend to further develop the use of ‘ask 3 before me’ by implementing it at the start of the academic year and applying it consistently. Pupils responded well to it during the project, but it needs to become embedded in our lessons, way of teaching and ways of working for pupils. We will also share what we have learnt about the use of praise and changes to the homework strategy, with colleagues in the school.
The project was planned over an eight week period in the spring term, in between holidays. This was an ideal timeframe as it fell neatly within our existing course timeline, and there were no scheduled interruptions to learning and teaching. In this time, we introduced the mindset project, engaged pupil voice, taught a complete unit of work, issued homework, and tested the pupils. Data was then collected, analysed, and compared to previously assessed units. Overall, we managed to stick to the timeframe, but it was hard to maintain pace with colleagues at the same time as building in extra activities and changing our way of working. This meant we had to make some slight changes to our plans.
We were keen to fully develop project ideas with the class, take on board their feedback and create a plan together. A pupil voice activity led us to agree on a new lesson format which entailed a period of direct teaching, a short break, then a period of challenging activities. As the use of mobile phones had been an ongoing battle with this class, pupils asked if they could use their phone during the short break, which was agreed to. Pupils were delighted with this compromise, and this helped them feel like their opinion was valued and we were willing to listen to their suggestions.
We then spent some time teaching pupils the skills required to ‘ask 3 before me’. This took a little more time than planned. To keep pace with the other classes we had to reduce the number of activities and homework tasks issued. Use of praise was easy to incorporate without taking up any class time. This was researched in free time and incorporated into the written and verbal feedback pupils received throughout the project.
When we commenced the project, most of the S3 class were aware of growth mindset. However, the class seemed a bit disengaged, there was an atmosphere of “we’ve heard all this before” and “it’s not going to make a difference”. To address this, we reached an agreement on how our lessons would work going forward. This strengthened the relationship and sense of value for pupils, and meant that when we introduced more challenging activities, they were more willing to give them a go and try their best.
Over the eight week project, there was a noticeable improvement in class morale, pupils enjoyed the lessons, participated fully, and responded well to the variety of tasks they were given. It was evident that pupils were more willing to try new things as they felt safe and supported. This improvement is noted in the results of the pupil evaluation. There was also an improvement in engagement with and quality of homework completed. We switched from homework booklets to one piece of revision for homework, where the pupils could choose how to do this provided it covered key learning points. The number of homework submissions greatly improved, from approximately a 57% return to 76%. Pupil voice activities showed that the pupils enjoyed the opportunity to choose their own homework task and were more likely to do it.
Analysing the results from tests completed before and after the project also highlighted an improvement in attainment, albeit it is difficult to prove causality. To fully evaluate the impact of the project, it would need to be implemented over a longer period and a control group would need to be used for comparison purposes.
For the project, we collected evidence from three main areas, direct observations, peoples’ views, and quantitative data. The results from each are summarised below.
Direct observations
This is one of the strongest indicators of project success. Most pupils were engaged in the lessons, they took part in each activity, and they pushed themselves to complete each task to the best of their ability. They built relationships as a class, as they asked each other for help, directed each other to specific pages in their notes and textbooks and worked together to help each other learn.
Peoples’ views
We used Google Forms to survey the class about how they felt about learning and whether they had a growth or fixed mindset. We carried out an evaluation at the end to identify if there were any changes. The initial and final survey results can be found below. Pupils were also asked to evaluate the project, to identify how they felt about this way of working and if they thought it had benefited them. The results of the project can be found here and show that pupils already had a good knowledge of growth mindset from primary school and were happy to offer suggestions for improvements. We spent a lesson discussing how to improve the learning environment and used this to help plan the activities and methodologies we used over the eight week period.
Quantitative data
It is difficult to come up with one measure of success for a project like this. We looked at a couple of indicators. From the end of topic test completed before this project, the class had an average score of 47%, with 11% of marks lost because the question wasn’t attempted. In the topic test (Biodiversity and Ecosystems) at the end of the project, pupils had an average score of 71%, with only 6% of marks being lost because pupils did not attempt the question. This gives some indication of the success of the project, albeit this was a slightly easier topic. There was also an increase in the proportion of pupils who were submitting homework, rising from 57% to 76% during the project.
Working as part of a team allowed us to engage in regular discussion about the mindset project and fine tune it, especially to ensure that it worked alongside the other projects that were being carried out in the school. We created an introductory PowerPoint on growth mindset that was shared with each of the project classes. Discussing growth mindset with the class helped to flesh out the project and colleague support encouraged us to follow through with our plans. Colleagues agreed that the S3 class was an ideal target group and helped to analyse the data and impact of the project. We now hope to roll the project out across the school over the next few years.
We have a Growth Mindset Committee in our school and have developed a three year plan that is now being written into our school development plan. We intend to open this committee to all interested members of staff, encourage more participants in the Mindset course and roll out growth mindset approaches across the BGE and Senior Phase. We hope to incorporate growth mindset into our ways of working and encourage staff to engage in their own research projects where appropriate.