Browsing by Author "Nissinen, Venla"

The framework for this study comes from Carol Dweck’s (2000, 2006) theory of mindsets. Dweck has categorized mindsets between two categories: the growth mindset and the fixed mindset. A person with a fixed mindset believes these qualities are stable whereas a person with a growth mindset believes human qualities such as intelligence, skills and personality are malleable. There have been a lot of studies about mindsets, but most of the research examines the mindsets of adolescents and adults. Instead, there has been less research regarding children’s mindset and effect on them through education. This is a case study from the third grade of primary school. The data of this study was collected as a part of the Copernicus research project led by Kirsi Tirri, based on the growth mindset pedagogy. The data consisted of learning diaries completed by the third grade pupils during the teaching period called “I can learn!”. The aim of this study was to find out what things pupils mention as challenging, what kind of mistakes and failures remain in pupils’ minds. In addition, pupils were asked to describe what strategies they use when facing a challenging learning situation and how “I can learn!” -teaching period influenced earlier strategies described. The analysis was done using an inductive content analysis. The results of this study showed that challenges and mistakes mentioned by the pupils were mainly related to exercise and school subjects. In light of the results, it can be concluded that the teaching period was able to influence pupils’ thinking and attitudes towards challenges and failures. The strategies mentioned by the pupils for challenging situations increased and positive, self-talk began to appear in pupils’ responses at the end of the teaching period. We can identify increase in pupils’ growth mindset thinking as a result of I can learn! -teaching period.