Slashdot Mirror
Huge Study Finds Professors' Attitudes Affect Students' Grades (arstechnica.com)
A huge study at Indiana University, led by Elizabeth Canning, finds that the attitudes of instructors affect the grades their students earned in classes. The researchers conducted their study by sending out a simple survey to all the instructors of STEM courses at Indiana University, asking whether professors felt that a student's intelligence is fixed and unchanging or whether they thought it could be developed. Then, the researchers were given access to two years' worth of students' grades in those instructors' classes, covering a total of 15,000 students. Ars Technica reports: The results showed a surprising difference between the professors who agreed that intelligence is fixed and those who disagreed (referred to as "fixed mindset" and "growth mindset" professors). In classes taught by fixed mindset instructors, Latino, African-American, and Native American students averaged grades 0.19 grade points (out of four) lower than white and Asian-American students. But in classes taught by "growth mindset" instructors, the gap dropped to just 0.10 grade points. No other factor the researchers analyzed showed a statistically significant difference among classes -- not the instructors' experience, tenure status, gender, specific department, or even ethnicity. Yet their belief about whether a students' intelligence is fixed seems to have had a sizable effect.
The students' course evaluations contain possible clues. Students reported less "motivation to do their best work" in the classes taught by fixed mindset professors, and they also gave lower ratings for a question about whether their professor "emphasize[d] learning and development." Students were less likely to say they'd recommend the professor to others, as well. Is it possible that the fixed mindset professors just happen to teach the hardest classes? The student evaluations also include a question about how much time the course required -- the average answer was slightly higher for fixed mindset professors, but the difference was not statistically significant. Instead, the researchers think the data suggests that -- in any number of small ways -- instructors who think their students' intelligence is fixed don't keep their students as motivated, and perhaps don't focus as much on teaching techniques that can encourage growth. And while this affects all students, it seems to have an extra impact on underrepresented minority students.
The students' course evaluations contain possible clues. Students reported less "motivation to do their best work" in the classes taught by fixed mindset professors, and they also gave lower ratings for a question about whether their professor "emphasize[d] learning and development." Students were less likely to say they'd recommend the professor to others, as well. Is it possible that the fixed mindset professors just happen to teach the hardest classes? The student evaluations also include a question about how much time the course required -- the average answer was slightly higher for fixed mindset professors, but the difference was not statistically significant. Instead, the researchers think the data suggests that -- in any number of small ways -- instructors who think their students' intelligence is fixed don't keep their students as motivated, and perhaps don't focus as much on teaching techniques that can encourage growth. And while this affects all students, it seems to have an extra impact on underrepresented minority students.
Did anyone review the actual coursework to determine which set of professors were grading more fairly?
They could have both graded fairly. According to the summary, the students felt less motivated and didn't work as hard in the "fixed-mindset" classes. So they may have gotten worse grades because they failed to learn as much and actually deserved worse grades.
Did anyone review the actual coursework to determine which set of professors were grading more fairly?
They could have both graded fairly. According to the summary, the students felt less motivated and didn't work as hard in the "fixed-mindset" classes. So they may have gotten worse grades because they failed to learn as much and actually deserved worse grades.
The importance of teachers and parents on student achievement, independent of a student's supposed intrinsic intelligence, is confirmed by a whole generation of education research. Education researchers are not common on Slashdot, but my wife was one, after being a math teacher and has a PhD in mathematics education. One trick she pulled while doing research in a central Oregon reservation was to stand in for a pregnant teacher for a term (she was there and still had her teaching license, so why not?). The class which for all time had hit a 100% failure fate (to pass standardized exams), magically attained a 100% pass rate for that term and fell back to a 100% fail rate after she left.
Pedagogy research has been done. The results tell how teaching should happen. If you know the research and apply the conclusions, students will succeed. A problem is that this is consistently not done in most schools. Schools still get bogged down in stupid stuff like ability tracking and age delineation. They clearly are broadly ignorant of the results of education research.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.