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HOW
WHY
WHEn
I can't do maths
Yet!
process praise - its impact on maths mindset and effort
Dr Juliet O'Callaghan
objectives
- To outline the real world problem.
- Brief summary of relevant theory and research.
- Research questions.
- How the research questions were investigated.
- What the results revealed.
- The conclusions and implication.
What is it aboUt maths...
MAths Anxiety
How much do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
1) I have a certain amount of maths intelligence and I can't really do much to change it.
2) Maths intelligence is something you can't change very much.
3) You can learn new things, but you can't really change your basic maths intelligence.
4) You can't really change how intelligent you are in maths.
Don't tell me I Am smart!
“Don’t tell children they are smart. More than three decades of research shows that a focus on
effort – not on intelligence or ability – is the key to success in school and in life.”
Carol Dweck, PhD.
What praise do teachers use?
Rationale
Carol Dweck proposes that different core beliefs about intelligence can set up different patterns of response to challenge and setbacks.
Fixed
Growth
Rationale
Previous research has shown that even when pupils on both ends of the continuum show equal intellectual ability, their theories of intelligence shape their response to academic challenge.
Furthermore, a person’s theory of intelligence appears to be unrelated to the value they place on a particular skill set or subject. Rattan et al (2011) analysed undergraduates’ sense of belonging, enjoyment and usefulness of maths and revealed maths was equally valued by participants with different theories of maths intelligence.
Value
Maths mindset and praise
According to Haimovitz and Corpus (2011) and Skipper and Douglas (2012) teachers who use praise which focuses on traits and abilities reinforce intelligence as fixed and unchanging (entity theory). This in turn leads to decreased motivation, engagement and effort.
The effects of praise on pupils’ effort and attainment is greater in subjects where pupils regularly experience difficulties and failures such as maths.
Process v person praise
Research questions
WHAT
One
Do pupils in Year 4, 5, and 6 who are exposed to daily process praise show a higher growth mindset in maths when compared with a waitlist control?
One
Two
Do pupils in Year 4, 5, and 6 who are exposed to daily process praise achieve a higher effort grade in maths when compared with a waitlist control?
Two
Three
For pupils in Year 4, 5 and 6 is there a positive relationship between theories of intelligence, as measured by maths mindset scale, and the value placed on maths, as measured by belonging and usefulness scales?
Three
Design
IDEAS
The researcher delivered training in two 1 hour sessions. The INSET design utilised methods found to be most effective in changing teachers’ praise behaviour:
- regular practice of new skills (self-efficacy)
- receive feedback (positive reinforcement)
- goal setting (motivation theory)
Participants
PRe and Post Measures
Core construct - Mindset
Core constructs - Enjoyment and usefulness
Effort grade
Procedure
Fidelity
- Fidelity checks were carried out once by the researcher for fifteen of the twenty teachers taking part.
- The fidelity check involved the researcher agreeing with the teacher to come into the maths lesson and complete the process praise count at the same time as the teacher.
- Ten teachers also completed observation of each other and compared the praise counts with each other.
- Further fidelity checks involved the researcher receiving daily praise count data through the Google form for each participating teacher.
Google form
results
A mixed analysis of variance was conducted to assess the impact of the process praise intervention on Mindset and Effort. The between subjects variable was group (experimental and control) and the within subject variable was time (pre and post intervention).
The relationship between mindset and value of maths was investigated using Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient.
Mindset statements
There was no significant interaction between group and time on the mindset scale total score, Wilks’ Lambda = 1.0, F (1, 452) = .02, p = .89, partial eta squared = .00.
Mindset statements
Mimi question
There was a significant interaction between group and time for the piechart, Wilks’ Lambda = .99, F (1, 451) = 4.1, p < .05, partial eta squared = .01 (small effect; Cohen, 1988).
Mimi question
Follow up test
Follow up tests were conducted to unpick the significant interaction. A repeated measures ANOVA revealed a significant change over time for the experimental group F (1, 214) = 4.19, p = .028, partial eta squared = .022 (small effect; Cohen, 1988). Change over time for the waitlist control group was non-significant F (1, 207) = .466, p = .496, partial eta squared = .002.
Follow up test
Effort
There was a significant interaction between group and time, Wilks’ Lambda = .94, F (1, 510), p< .001, partial eta squared = .06 (medium effect; Cohen, 1988).
Effort
Follow up test
Follow up tests were conducted to unpick the significant interaction. A repeated measures ANOVA revealed a significant change over time for the experimental group F (1, 272) = 18.74, p < .0005, partial eta squared = .064 (moderate effect; Cohen, 1988). There was also a significant change over time for the waitlist control group F (1, 238) = 14.48, p < .005, partial eta squared = .059 (small effect: Cohen, 1988).
Follow up test
Value of Maths
These findings fit with previous research (conducted on undergraduates) and suggests that younger pupils’ implicit theories of maths intelligence are not related to their beliefs about the value of maths (as measured by usefulness and belonging).
Discussion
These findings suggest that use of process praise in maths lessons does impact on effort and supports Weiner’s (1979) attribution based theory of achievement-motivation patterns such as perseverance or non-perseverance in the face of failure.
Discussion
Based on previous research findings a small effect size was considered to be most likely (DeWitt, 2015) and the fact a medium effect was seen demonstrates real world effectiveness of using process praise in the classroom to increase pupils’ efforts in maths.
Implications
In terms of changes to maths mindset, only one of the three dependent variables showed an interaction effect in the direction predicted (pie-chart).
This could well mean that the use of process praise alone does not change pupils’ beliefs about intelligence in maths.
However, it could also be that process praise may work indirectly on strengthening the relationship between response (effort) and outcome (success in maths), which may have been extinguished by repeated failure.
Implications
Real world effects
In relation to real world effects, it appears changing how children are praised can lead to them making more effort in maths and this focus on praising effort may lead to a change in maths mindset from fixed to growth. However, further
replications with a Time 3 measure of at least 6 months are needed to confirm this.
Thank you for Listening
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