Student Perceptions of Faculty Mindset

This study investigates the influence of instructor mindset on student perceptions. Due to the need for increasing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) student retention and the issue of underrepresentation of minority groups in STEM disciplines, we also examined whether instruct...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Christy Jarrard, Deborah Richardson, Robert Bledsoe
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Indiana University Office of Scholarly Publishing 2025-03-01
Series:Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Subjects:
Online Access:https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals-playground/index.php/josotl/article/view/36374
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849702827056693248
author Christy Jarrard
Deborah Richardson
Robert Bledsoe
author_facet Christy Jarrard
Deborah Richardson
Robert Bledsoe
author_sort Christy Jarrard
collection DOAJ
description This study investigates the influence of instructor mindset on student perceptions. Due to the need for increasing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) student retention and the issue of underrepresentation of minority groups in STEM disciplines, we also examined whether instructor mindset impacts underrepresented students more than represented students in the context of STEM education. Undergraduate student participants (N = 273) reviewed growth and fixed mindset syllabi and responded to a questionnaire to assess perceptions about their likely response and the professor. The significant main effect of faculty mindset revealed that students anticipated better grades and reported a more positive view of the instructor, greater self-efficacy, and higher expectations the professor would treat them fairly after reading the growth mindset syllabus than after reading the fixed mindset syllabus. Females reported lower expected grades, less self-efficacy, and lower expectations of fair treatment than males after reading the fixed syllabus; there were no gender differences after reading the growth mindset syllabus. The results of underrepresented racial/ethnicity group analyses were less clear cut. Our findings, alongside similar research, suggest that students have more positive perceptions of their ability to succeed when an instructor endorses a growth mindset than when an instructor endorses a fixed mindset. Implications include interventions to enhance growth-mindset orientation among instructors.
format Article
id doaj-art-e6576ac7db68478c9a890a8a863845bb
institution DOAJ
issn 1527-9316
language English
publishDate 2025-03-01
publisher Indiana University Office of Scholarly Publishing
record_format Article
series Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
spelling doaj-art-e6576ac7db68478c9a890a8a863845bb2025-08-20T03:17:31ZengIndiana University Office of Scholarly PublishingJournal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning1527-93162025-03-0125110.14434/josotl.v25i1.36374Student Perceptions of Faculty MindsetChristy Jarrard0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3381-7706Deborah Richardson1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1017-7654Robert Bledsoe2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7019-7123Georgia State UniversityAugusta University, Department of Psychological SciencesAugusta University, Department of English & World LanguagesThis study investigates the influence of instructor mindset on student perceptions. Due to the need for increasing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) student retention and the issue of underrepresentation of minority groups in STEM disciplines, we also examined whether instructor mindset impacts underrepresented students more than represented students in the context of STEM education. Undergraduate student participants (N = 273) reviewed growth and fixed mindset syllabi and responded to a questionnaire to assess perceptions about their likely response and the professor. The significant main effect of faculty mindset revealed that students anticipated better grades and reported a more positive view of the instructor, greater self-efficacy, and higher expectations the professor would treat them fairly after reading the growth mindset syllabus than after reading the fixed mindset syllabus. Females reported lower expected grades, less self-efficacy, and lower expectations of fair treatment than males after reading the fixed syllabus; there were no gender differences after reading the growth mindset syllabus. The results of underrepresented racial/ethnicity group analyses were less clear cut. Our findings, alongside similar research, suggest that students have more positive perceptions of their ability to succeed when an instructor endorses a growth mindset than when an instructor endorses a fixed mindset. Implications include interventions to enhance growth-mindset orientation among instructors.https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals-playground/index.php/josotl/article/view/36374instructor mindsetsyllabusstudent perceptionsSTEM education
spellingShingle Christy Jarrard
Deborah Richardson
Robert Bledsoe
Student Perceptions of Faculty Mindset
Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
instructor mindset
syllabus
student perceptions
STEM education
title Student Perceptions of Faculty Mindset
title_full Student Perceptions of Faculty Mindset
title_fullStr Student Perceptions of Faculty Mindset
title_full_unstemmed Student Perceptions of Faculty Mindset
title_short Student Perceptions of Faculty Mindset
title_sort student perceptions of faculty mindset
topic instructor mindset
syllabus
student perceptions
STEM education
url https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals-playground/index.php/josotl/article/view/36374
work_keys_str_mv AT christyjarrard studentperceptionsoffacultymindset
AT deborahrichardson studentperceptionsoffacultymindset
AT robertbledsoe studentperceptionsoffacultymindset