1. FixedMind
sets Produce Neg
ativeEmotions
Fixed
M
indset Conclu
sions
LearnByD
oing is Future-Ori
ented
Students believe that Learn
by Doing is the practical
application of skills that, “gives
knowledge and schoolwork a
purpose.”
Mindset + Grit + Learn by Doing = Spaces of Resilience
Methodology
Research Questions:
1- How would you feel about a course where the professor operated in
a growth mindset?
2- How would you feel about a course where the professor operated in
a fixed mindset?
3- “Learn by Doing” is the Cal Poly motto. Briefly, explain how you
interpret this motto?
4- How could mindset affect “Learn by Doing”?
Participants included students from WOW, upper division major courses,
and student success seminars. Data was initially organized by pre-
determined themes. Five quotations were selected from each of the
themes and analyzed. In analysis, we asked the data “What do the
students want us to know from this quotation?” following Gee’s (2010)
discourse analysis tool kit. Our goal was making sense of how students
constructed spaces of learning through faculty’s participation in growth
and fixed mindsets.
Who Are We?
“The growth of any craft depends on shared practice and honest
dialogue among the people who do it. We grow by trial and error, to be
sure – but our willingness to try, and fail, as individuals is severely limited
when we are not supported by a community that encourages such
risks.”
~Parker Palmer, The Courage to Teach
California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo is a
comprehensive polytechnic school with a guiding philosophy of “Learn by
Doing.” There are roughly 19,000 students and 1,400 faculty.
Robin A. Parent is the Inclusive Excellence Instruction Specialist in the
Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology. Her academic areas are
Curriculum & Instruction, Qualitative Research Methods, Cultural Studies,
and Women & Gender Studies.
Katy Palmer is a senior majoring in Anthropology with dual minors
in Women’s & Gender Studies and Religious Studies. She is also an
undergraduate research assistant with the Center for Teaching Learning &
Technology and an intern for the Women’s and Gender Studies program.
Key
Fixed Mindset
Learn by Doing & Growth
Mindset
Learn by Doing
Growth Mindset
Encourages
Professor Action
The words
and phrases used
by students show that
growth mindset professors
are supportive and inclusive,
the connect Learn by Doing
through the safety of spaces
where trial and error fosters
student success.
LearnbyDoi
ng
Conclusions
Students
respond positively
to learning spaces of
resilience when there are
high impact or learn by doing
activities, a supported learning
process that includes spaces
for trial and error, and resilient
spaces that are welcoming
and supported by the
professor.
Motivation
In the case of motivation,
learn by doing and growth
mindset supports students who
exhibit grit as well as provides
“encouragement,” in learning.
BuildsConf
idence for Future
Professions
Students
exhibited aspects
of grit while talking
about their confidence
in their futures. They
connected growth mindset
and learn by doing by saying
they are “intertwined” and
by combining them they
“apply” skills and ideas
to their “lives/
futures.”
Learni
ng Through Mist
akes
Students
believe Learn by
Doing is the practical
application of their skills,
“beyond theory” that involves,
“interacting with the real
world.” Learn by Doing can
also, “mean learning by
failure.”
LearnBy
Doing-Mindset C
onclusions
These
findings lead us
to believe that learning
spaces of resilience depend
upon growth mindset and
a learn by doing curriculum
framework. Campus learning
centers can use these data to
design inclusive, hands-on,
curricula and cultivate
professors’ growth
mindset.
Risks
Spaces of resilience
support risk taking, failure,
and the opportunity to try
again, as they are challenging
and push students beyond
understanding to
competency.
Encou
rages Student Ac
tion
Professors
with growth
mindsets encourage
students to engage in
their own learning. Students
discussed that they would be
more “motivated,” more likely
to “participate in class,”
and “more confident”
in overcoming
“obstacles.”
Grow
th
Mindset Foster
sPositiveEmoti
on
When professors
operate in a growth mindset,
they feel, “encouraged,”
“optimistic,” “included,” and
“welcomed” in the course.
Growth
M
indset Conclusi
ons
Students
discussed feeling
welcomed, supported,
happy, and excited. They
also said that they would be
more willing to try new and hard
things, accept failure as part of
a process, and more likely to
seek out help from faculty
who create the space for
their students.
Inclusivity
When
professors operate in
a growth mindset, they,
“inspire” and, “encourage”
students to, “work harder to
learn more.” These aspects
of grit are cultivated in an
environment that is inclusive
and, “open-minded.”
Enco
urages Student A
ction
Professors in growth
mindsets model positive
behavior about learning
to their students. Students
mirror or emulate attributes
they see. Students describe
this environment as
“contagious.”
FostersSpa
ce for Student-Pr
ofessorExchang
e
Professors
with growth
mindsets encourage
students to engage in
their own learning. Students
discussed that they would be
more “motivated,” more likely
to “participate in class,”
and “more confident”
in overcoming
“obstacles.”
Students commented
that they would feel scared,
unhappy, fearful, unwelcomed,
and disconnected in a class
where the faculty member
operated in a fixed mindset.
Students believe
that professors who
operate in fixed mindsets
create a “pessimistic”
learning environment that
functions on a binary that
places students either in a
‘can’ category or a ‘cannot’
category.