Browsing by Author "Peltola, Saana"

The main objective of this study is to examine the growth mindsets of first-, third- and six-graders in a southern Finnish elementary school. The other aim of this study is to examine the possible differences in these mindsets between various age groups. The purpose of the study is to examine the beliefs that the students hold about their competence, achievements and the challenges they might face. The objective on the study is to further examine the students reasoning behind their school achievements as well as their reactions to the challenges and failures that they face in school. Previous studies have shown that the growth mindset is a more positive and optimistic mindset compared to the fixed mindset when it comes to the school achievements. The growth mindset of a student is related to their perseverance, learning aspiration and more affirmative reactions to the possible challenges and failures in school. This study is a qualitative research, which was conducted by using student interviews as a research method. The research questions were based on the research themes and previous studies. The research material was gathered from one southern Finnish elementary school during the spring 2019 school semester. 13 first-graders, 15 third- graders and eight six-graders were interviewed for this research. The final research material consisted of 36 individual student interviews and it was analyzed by using theoretical based content analysis as a data analysis method. According to the results of this study, the students had a strong growth mindset that was reflected in both their way of thinking and actions. The students generally thought that a competence is a trait they can develop by working hard and studying. They also believed that them as well as the others have opportunities to grow and develop. The students in this study felt strongly about their competence in both of the following circumstances; when learning as well as achieving something. The students considered practicing and their own actions as a main reason to the school achievements, which according to the previous studies is an illustration of a growth mindset. The six-graders also brought up the importance of both their motivation and attitude towards school. The students in this study reacted positively to possible challenges and failures; according to the interviews they were task-oriented and persistent when facing challenges. In addition, in these situations they expressed to have perseverance and to try remedial actions. As a result of the interview data analysis, the students of all grades also seemed to understand that failures are a part of the learning process. According to this study, there weren’t significant/ considerable/notable differences amongst the students from the three different age groups. All of the students participating in this study considered practice, persistance and learning to be valuable factors in the learning process.