Equity Pilot Utilizing Growth Mindset and Neuroscience

This Moraine Valley Community College project addressed equity gaps in Introduction to Computer Science and used growth mindset and neuroscience to empower students to seek help, increase comfort levels with public mistakes, and push through difficult cognitions. The class mantra became, “Mistakes are expected, inspected, corrected, and respected.” After gathering data, discussing biases, and observing in classrooms, the team redesigned the course to include several growth mindset techniques: highlighting homework attempts that were wrong but had good steps; writing “not yet” on assignments instead of deducting points; tapping the “not yet” sign above the classroom light switch; and using picture superiority to learn more efficiently. The pilot was a success. The growth mindset student group had a 66.7 percent success rate compared to a 50 percent success rate for the control group.

Innovators: Sadya Khan, Larry Langellier, Anna Maria Rogers