A new study indicates the success of students in the Science, Technology, Engineering or Math (STEM) fields can be impeded by their professors. A study published earlier this month was conducted to see if a professor’s mindset and beliefs can influence student success. The two-year study collected data on 15,000 students and 1,500 faculty members with the results published last February.
Indiana University social psychologists Mary Turner and Elizabeth Canning used course evaluations to determine students’ experiences in the classroom and whether they felt their instructors motivated them. You can see the results here.
The study found that faculty mindset beliefs predicted the racial achievement gap and student performance in their classes. This means, once students are in the classroom it’s not just their work ethic that can determine their success, it’s also their professors’ perception of that work ethic.
The research suggests there are two mindsets that instructors can use in their classrooms: growth or fixed. They are relayed through classroom behaviors and responsiveness in aiding students who request help.
Students like Madison Clayborn say the harder the class, the less help given to students due to the high volume of questions. Clayborn, a Human Biology major, says in some classes, like her organic chemistry course, the instructors know the material is hard and tell them, ‘you either get it or you don’t.’
“They’ll (show you) how to do it, but then if you don’t get it within like a certain amount of tries , they’re kind of like, ‘Oh just keep practicing, (and) you’ll get it’ type of thing. But me, I’m not gonna get it. I still need your help” says Clayborn.
Growth mindsets, by contrast, praise the learning process and offer different strategies to retain information. Fixed mindsets tell students that only gifted students will succeed and expect them to produce nearly flawless work.
The research suggests that professors who use the growth mindset in class can slice the achievement gap nearly in half. The racial achievement gap exists between whites and minorities, and if the growth mindset is applied, it can cut this gap by .9 GPA points by the end of the year. Researchers found the number one predictor of racial achievement gaps in the classroom are faculty mindsets.
Canning and Murphy say not being able to get the help they need can affect student motivation, engagement and performance. Faculty age, gender and racial classification had no affect on the likelihood of them pushing a fixed mindset; they were equally as likely to endorse a fixed mindset as a growth one.
But this conclusion does not set well with everyone, Nutrition Instructor Dr. Martha Morse says it’s bigger than race. Dr. Morse has traveled the world and thinks other factors, like economics, play a big role in how successful a someone is.
“Some parents– they can afford to pay for all of their children’s expenses. Some can’t. If they can’t, then the person has to work part-time. Some students work full-time and go to school full-time. They are at a great disadvantage.” says Dr. Martha Morse.
Dr. Morse says she teaches using a growth mindset and sets the tone in her syllabus, making clear the level of respect she wants all students in her class to receive. By the end of the year, students did well in her class and they were more likely to recommend the class to others.