Growth Mindset in Teaching: A Case Study of a Finnish Elementary School Teacher
Keywords:
Growth mindset; growth mindset pedagogy; elementary school teacher; FinlandAbstract
This study investigates how a growth mindset is actualised in
one first-grade teacher’s classroom. Mindset refers to implicit beliefs
that individuals hold about basic human qualities. A person with a
growth mindset sees these qualities as malleable and subject to
development, whereas a person with a fixed mindset sees these
qualities as static and unalterable. Previous research has shown that
teachers’ mindsets have an influence on their pedagogical thinking and
practice. The data in this study include classroom observations,
videotaping and stimulated recall interviews. Deductive content
analysis was used in the inquiry. The teacher’s growth mindset
pedagogy was actualised with one student in particular when the
teacher gave critical feedback in the form of “not yet”. This gradually
changed the student’s fixed mindset behaviour towards a growth
mindset. The teacher’s growth mindset was also actualised in the class
as a whole when she fostered students’ process-focused thinking with
concrete and immediate praise, indicating her high expectations. The
teacher studied can be regarded as an example of a growth-mindset
teacher, and her actions and reflections on the teaching-studyinglearning process provide illuminating examples of growth mindset
pedagogy in classroom interactions.
https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.18.8.9
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