Boston, April 04, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The practice of encouraging a growth mindset in students in order to foster their ability to problem solve and take on challenges has gained growing awareness among educators. In fact, a 2016 Education Week Research Center survey found that a staggering 85 percent of teachers wanted more professional development to learn how to incorporate growth mindset strategies into their classrooms. Despite that, there has been little focus on the role that educational technology tools can play in shaping students’ mindsets. To address this knowledge gap, Lexia Learning, a Rosetta Stone® (NYSE: RST) company, has made available a new white paper, “Cultivating Growth Mindset with Educational Technology.”
Written by Elizabeth R. Kazakoff, Ph.D., senior researcher at Lexia, and Alison Mitchell, Ph.D., NCSP, the company’s director of assessment, the white paper explores what it means to have a growth mindset and how supporting this perspective in students can be enhanced in the context of educational technology.
“Decades of research have demonstrated that a student’s mindset is a critical factor that impacts how comfortable and motivated they are when posed with a new or difficult problem to solve,” said Dr. Kazakoff. “In fact, researcher Carol Dweck, who wrote the book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, says it best, ‘Students who possess a growth mindset are more motivated to learn and take on more challenges compared to students with fixed mindsets.’”
According to mindset theory, while students with a growth mindset believe their abilities and intelligence can improve with work, students who possess a fixed mindset believe these qualities cannot change. And because they believe their abilities are fixed and incapable of change, students with a fixed mindset may not respond well to failure and often avoid situations where their weaknesses might be revealed. Classrooms that support a growth mindset help students identify their areas for improvement in a way that reframes them as learning opportunities.
“Developing a growth mindset requires a continuous process of learning where students are given ongoing opportunities to engage with challenges and support in using new strategies to approach them,” said Dr. Mitchell. “Many educational technology programs include features that allow students to monitor their own progress while receiving feedback and low-stakes opportunities for practicing different strategies to solve challenging problems. Because of that, they may be utilized as a part of broader efforts to foster growth mindset both inside and outside the classroom.”
The white paper lists and discusses educational technology features that can be used to support growth mindsets:
- Choice over learning path and the opportunity to take learning risks
- Continuous feedback on ongoing effort
- Denotation of progress through competencies gained
- Personalized material that challenges and engages students
- Continuous opportunities for individualized practice with mechanisms for teacher support
- Fostering supportive classrooms and school-to-home connections
A complimentary copy of “Cultivating Growth Mindset with Educational Technology” can be downloaded at http://www.lexialearning.com/download-growth-mindset-wp.
About Lexia Learning
Lexia Learning, a division of Rosetta Stone, empowers educators through adaptive assessment and personalized instruction. For more than 30 years, the company has been on the leading edge of research and product development as it relates to student reading skills. With a robust offering that includes solutions for differentiated instruction, personalized learning and assessment, Lexia Learning provides educators with the tools to intensify and accelerate literacy skills development for students of all abilities. For more information, visit www.lexialearning.com.
About Rosetta Stone
Rosetta Stone Inc. (NYSE: RST) is dedicated to changing people’s lives through the power of language and literacy education. The company’s innovative digital solutions drive positive learning outcomes for the inspired learner at home or in schools and workplaces around the world.
Founded in 1992, Rosetta Stone’s language division uses cloud-based solutions to help all types of learners read, write, and speak more than 30 languages. Lexia Learning, Rosetta Stone's literacy education division, was founded more than 30 years ago and is a leader in the literacy education space. Today, Lexia helps students build fundamental reading skills through its rigorously researched, independently evaluated, and widely respected instruction and assessment programs.
For more information, visit www.rosettastone.com. “Rosetta Stone” is a registered trademark or trademark of Rosetta Stone Ltd. in the United States and other countries.