The aim of the project was to encourage a growth mindset in the pupils, over the course of a school placement. The intention was to get pupils more involved during learning, be more interactive with question and answer sessions, and be confident about presenting knowledge gained to the entire class. We wanted pupils to believe that they could face up to challenges while trying to succeed in a career of their choice, and in time help to reduce the poverty-related attainment gap. We focused on teaching professional skills such as active listening, communication, presentation, teamwork, leadership, problem-solving skills, organisational skills, and analytical skills. We also hoped that the pupils would show a gradual shift from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset.
The project had a positive impact on professional development, helping to improve listening, engagement, leadership, and organisational skills. The pupils also showed an improvement in the skills taught, with some getting better at presenting. There was a slight shift from fixed to growth mindset for the pupils. However, this change could have been greater, if not for the following:
We were not able to work with the timeline outlined for this project. The original plan was for a seven week project, but we learned that we had just six weeks available for delivery. We had discussions with senior colleagues at the outset to explain the rationale for the project, as well as the positive effect it was expected to have on the pupils. This also gave us the opportunity to garner support for some parts of the project and get approval for the detailed plan. At this stage, we had to revisit the planned questionnaire to make some amendments and be introduced to the class. This led to a slight delay and left only five full weeks for the project, albeit we were able to work with the class four times a week.
Most of the periods that we had with the class were the last period of the day when pupils were tired and had lost focus. This meant we had to make the class very interactive to maintain engagement. However, it made it difficult to keep up with the feedback slips and additional questionnaire. Classroom behaviour also hampered progress, which meant there was pressure to devote the lessons to the content to be taught, rather than the aims of the project. This was especially difficult as many of the pupils already felt that because they were in the third set, they couldn’t achieve certain things anyway. We had to use our own life experiences to keep the pupils engaged and help them to see that everyone fails at some point but can still be successful. We hoped this would support the shift towards a growth mindset.
One of the lessons delivered was on speed, distance, and time. We made it interactive by thinking about sports cars, school buses and compared these to Usain Bolt’s world record speed. We then got the pupils discussing their journey to school and how this could be used to calculate times and speeds. Pupils explained to the class how they travelled and what speed they must have been going at, helping them to build their presentation skills and understanding. This also helped the pupils to see how they use maths in their everyday life, building their confidence and encouraging a growth mindset.
Basic trigonometry was the next topic we covered. We included in the lesson, pictures of constructed bridges and explained how the lengths of certain beams could be calculated using Pythagoras’ rule. The pictures helped to explain the practical use of the topic, and made pupils understand its real-life application. We then put on the board various right-angled triangles and covered them with different colours. Pupils discussed and presented to the class the sides of the triangle that represented the opposite or hypotenuse. The pupils were eager to engage in this activity and presented their thoughts to the class confidently.
We also shared some practical life experiences with the pupils that demonstrated a growth mindset. We used these stories to show pupils that it was okay to fail while trying, most important was to try different strategies and persevere. If pupils were not afraid to fail or make mistakes, they could achieve their goals. These stories really helped the pupils to face new topics and gave them the confidence to try new things like coming to the board to explain to the class when they were given the opportunity.
To assess the impact of the project, we carried out formative assessments during the lessons to help confirm pupil’s understanding of the topics taught, their confidence and to check for change in their mindset. We encouraged the pupils to engage and try answering the questions. We reinforced that it was better to make an attempt and speak out, and the importance of an ‘I can do’ attitude for every topic being discussed. As the classes progressed, the pupils got more involved in the classwork, and felt more confident answering questions in front of the class. They were not afraid to give an answer even if they thought the answer may be wrong, and the class reinforced this by not reacting. By the end of the project, the pupils looked forward to sharing their thoughts freely when given the opportunity.
We used an anonymous questionnaire with the pupils at the start and end of the project. This had nine questions, with a ‘yes’ answer to questions 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9 showing a growth mindset, and a ‘yes’ answer to questions 2 and 6 showing a fixed mindset. The main results were:
When we compared the overall data from the baseline and final questionnaire, we found that for the first week, 25% of the class had a growth mindset in certain aspects, 54% were between a growth and fixed mindset, and 21% worked with a fixed mindset. The final questionnaire showed that 42% had now started working with a growth mindset in different aspects, 48% were in between a growth and fixed mindset, and 10% worked with a fixed mindset. Overall, this showed an 11 percentage point increase in the positive net balance of pupils with a growth mindset.
While undertaking the project, we got constant feedback from the class tutor. They really appreciated how the lessons were prepared, saying that they were informative and easy to understand. She admired the videos and pictures used and how they connected learning the topic to the real world. She was also excited to see the pupils interested and eager to come to the board to explain answers to questions. She was impressed at the presentation skills that some of the pupils were beginning to show and the impact that sharing real-life experiences of using a growth mindset had had on the pupils.
Building a growth mindset in the pupils will require more time and consistency, especially due to the peer pressure they experience at this age. The next steps planned to further support the development of a growth mindset include: