Chattanooga State & Motivate Lab
Developing Student’s Learning Mindsets
Collaboration: Motivate Lab & Chattanooga State Community College (CSCC)
Purpose of the Project
Our primary goal is to improve the engagement, academic achievement, retention, and progression of incoming students through introductory math courses. The project focuses on the intentional development of students' learning mindsets, which are an individuals' beliefs about learning that shape how they interpret difficulty. These learning mindsets are critical predictors of students' performance and decisions to stay in college
A Refined Focus
Informed by societal messages, early life experiences, and educational history, students from traditionally underrepresented groups enter college with beliefs about whether they can succeed, find value in higher education, and belong in school. Often times, these beliefs can be misled, leading to negative academic outcomes for these invaluable students. However, research suggests that learning mindsets are malleable, and learning mindset interventions can reduce equity and opportunity gaps for students from traditionally underrepresented groups. So the framework of this project is built to benefit all students at Chattanooga State, but with a particular focus on students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds.