Year: 2026
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This case study investigates how high school biology teachers understand and apply growth mindset principles in their daily instruction. Using surveys, semi‑structured interviews, and focus groups, the study examines how biology teachers interpret mindset, how they attempt to enact it, and how curriculum demands shape their efforts. Findings show that teachers’ beliefs about intelligence strongly influence their feedback, expectations, and instructional decisions. Teachers described biology as a subject in which struggle is highly visible, emotionally charged, and often tied to students’ prior knowledge, making mindset work both necessary and challenging. Results also indicate that students’ mindsets are shaped by broader contextual factors, including language barriers, peer norms, and socioeconomic stressors, that extend beyond classroom instruction. Together, these insights deepen understanding of how a growth mindset is interpreted, enacted, reinforced, and sometimes constrained in real biology classrooms rather than in controlled intervention settings.
Author: Chapman, Kathryn
Institution: Kennesaw State University
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7202007801