[net-gold] Threats to At-Risk Students: Stereotype and The Belief in Fixed Intelligence
- From: "David P. Dillard" <jwne@xxxxxxxxxx>
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- Date: Sat, 31 May 2014 14:19:11 -0400 (EDT)
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Date: Fri, 30 May 2014 20:13:16 -0700
From: "Richard Hake rrhake@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [Net-Gold]" <Net-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: AERA-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Net-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Net-Gold] Threats to At-Risk Students: Stereotype & The Belief in
Fixed Intelligence
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If you reply to this long (49 kB) post please don't hit the reply button,
bane of discussion lists, unless you prune the copy of this post that may
appear in your reply down to a few relevant lines, otherwise the entire
already archived post may be needlessly resent to subscribers. The
abstract reads:
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On 30 May 2014, there were:
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(1) three threads containing 33 posts on the POD archives at
<http://bit.ly/SjUBE9> concerning Leonard Geddes' "Learnwell Projects"
piece "Why Good Students Do 'Bad' in College" <http://wp.me/p3GGxn-t>; and
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(2) one thread containing 15 posts on the PhysLrnR archives at
<http://bit.ly/SkeKKo> concerning Paul Tough's NYT piece "Who Gets to
Graduate" <http://nyti.ms/1nD3Z1E>.
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The above posts primarily concern two threats to at-risk students: (a) the
"Stereotype Threat" – see "Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us
and What We Can Do" [Steele (2011)] <http://amzn.to/1hhk1yc>; and (b)
what might be called "The Belief in Fixed Intelligence Threat" – see
"Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" [Dweck (2007)] at
<http://amzn.to/1wzVqZA>.
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These two threats have been recently discussed in a "Physics Today"
article "Psychological insights for improved physics teaching" [Aguilar,
Walton, & Wieman (2014)] at <http://stanford.io/1tXfxPc>.
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On 30 May 2014 10:09-0700, there were three threads on the OPEN! POD May
archives at <http://bit.ly/SjUBE9> concerning "Why Good Students Do 'Bad'
in College":
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1. "Interesting Article: Why Good Students Do Bad in College," 6 posts,
initiated by Leonard Geddes (2014) on 20 May 2014 12:07:13-0400;
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2. "Why Good Students Do Bad in College & Stereotype Threat," 7 posts,
initiated by Angela Linse (2014a) on 22 May 2014 10:39:43-0400;
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3. "Why Good Students Do Bad in College & Stereotype Threat (not about
self esteem)," 20 posts, initiated by Angela Linse (2014c) on 22 May 2014
11:26:45-0400.
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In thread "1" Ed Nuhfer (2014) pointed to (a) "Whistling Vivaldi: How
Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do" [Steele (2011)] and
"ReducingStereotypeThreat.org" at <http://bit.ly/1jAGAYU> by Steven
Stroessner and Catherine Good – see at <http://bit.ly/1hiYdSI> -
especially "What is the Stereotype Threat? at <http://bit.ly/1nKzh6Q>.
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In thread "2" Angela Linse (2014b) reaffirmed Nuhfer's recommendation of
Steele's book, writing [my inserts at ". . . . . .[[insert]]. . . ."]: "If
you are new to these topics I'd start with Claude Steele's. . . . . [[(
2011)]]. . . . . 'Whistling Vivaldi.' It is an engaging read that
chronicles the growing body of research on 'Stereotype Threat.' Anything
written by Josh Aronson . . . . .[[e.g., e.g. Aronson & Aronson (2011)]].
. . . . . too (Steele's first grad in the area now a full Prof. at NYU).
What I like about their books is that the skepticism with which they
approach their own ideas, like true scientists, runs throughout their
research, which is very important if you are going to share the idea with
(skeptical) faculty."
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Related to "Why Good Students Do Bad in College " is the NYT piece "Who
Gets to Graduate?" [Tough (2014). This was mentioned by Nicholos Carbone
(2014) in his post "NY Times: Who Gets to Graduate?" and (2) by Alan
Bender (2014), in thread "1" above, who wrote: "In case nobody else
mentioned it, last Sunday's New York Times Magazine had a perhaps somewhat
relevant cover story 'Who Gets to Graduate' ."
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"Who Gets to Graduate?" points to another threat that promotes doing "Bad"
in college. It might be called "The Belief in Fixed Intelligence Threat,"
the belief in "what Carol Dweck had named an entity theory of intelligence
– that intelligence is a fixed quality that is impossible to improve
through practice or study." See e.g. "Mindset: The New Psychology of
Success" [Dweck (2007)]. For a "Chronicle of Higher Education" article on
Carol Dweck's work see "Carol Dweck's Attitude: It's not about how smart
you are" [Glenn (2010)].
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Coincidentally on 30 May 2014 10:22-0700 there was a 15-post thread on
"Who Gets to Graduate" on the PhysLrnR May archives at
<http://bit.ly/SkeKKo>, initiated by John "Texas" Clement (2014) who wrote
[slightly edited]: "I would highly recommend reading "Who gets to
graduate" at nytimes.com. It shows that a significant improvement in the
graduation rate of at-risk students can be achieved by modifying their
attitudes. So in addition to doing things to improve thinking levels, and
using interactive engagement, this might be the other factor to improving
results."
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On the same PhysLrnR thread Jane Jackson (2014) wrote (slightly edited):
"The May 2014 issue of 'Physics Today' has a very good article by Nobelist
Carl Wieman and 2 associates: 'Psychological insights for improved physics
teaching: If classroom practices designed to increase diversity in in
physics are to succeed, physics teachers need to understand students’
perspectives. [Aguilar, Walton, & Wieman (2014)]". Aguilar et al. wrote
[bracketed by lines AWW-AWW-AWW-. . . . . . . ; my inserts at ". . . . .
[[insert]]. . . ."]:
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AWW-AWW-AWW-AWW-AWW-AWW-AWW-AWW-AWW
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People who are part of a group that is recognizably different . . . .
.[[e.g., a woman or a member of a minority group]]. . . . tend to be
particularly attentive to negative social dynamics and more likely to
suffer detrimental effects ["Whistling Vivaldi . . . " (Steele (2011)].
In a physics class, two psychological dynamics are particularly important
to the academic success of students from underrepresented groups: beliefs
about intelligence and awareness of negative stereotypes. . . . . . . .
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CAN I GET SMARTER?. . . . .[["The Belief in Fixed Intelligence Threat"]].
. . . . How quickly students learn is affected to a large degree by
whether they believe that ability in physics or some other area of
interest is something that can grow and develop like a muscle (a “growth
mindset”) or something you are born with and can do little to change (a
"fixed mindset") ["Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" Dweck (2007)].
. . . . .
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DO I BELONG? . . . . . .[[The Stereotype Threat]]. . . Another drag on
motivation and learning is the worry students have that people like them
don’t belong in physics and that the teacher or other students will view
them negatively because of theirgroup. In demanding intellectual settings,
people are often aware of negative stereotypes about their group. In the
physical sciences, those stereotypesare most threatening for women and
non-Asian ethnic minorities.
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AWW-AWW-AWW-AWW-AWW-AWW-AWW-AWW-AWW
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Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University; Honorary
Member, Curmudgeon Lodge of Deventer, The Netherlands; President, PEdants
for Definitive Academic References which Recognize the Invention of the
Internet (PEDARRII); LINKS TO: Academia <http://bit.ly/a8ixxm>; Articles
<http://bit.ly/a6M5y0>; Blog <http://bit.ly/9yGsXh>; Facebook
<http://on.fb.me/XI7EKm>; GooglePlus <http://bit.ly/KwZ6mE>; Google
Scholar <http://bit.ly/Wz2FP3>; Linked In <http://linkd.in/14uycpW>;
Research Gate <http://bit.ly/1fJiSwB>; Socratic Dialogue Inducing (SDI)
Labs <http://bit.ly/9nGd3M>; Twitter <http://bit.ly/juvd52>.
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REFERENCES [URLs shortened by <http://bit.ly/> and accessed on 30 May
2014. NOTE: to access the archives of PhysLnR one needs to subscribe :-(,
but that takes only a few minutes by clicking on <http://bit.ly/nG318r>
and then clicking on "Join or Leave PHYSLRNR-LIST." If you're busy, then
subscribe using the "NOMAIL" option under "Miscellaneous." Then, as a
subscriber, you may access the archives and/or post messages at any time,
while receiving NO MAIL from the list!
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Aguilar, L., G. Walton, & C. Wieman. 2014. "Psychological insights for
improved physics teaching," Physics Today 67(5): 43; online as a 541 kB
pdf at <http://stanford.io/1tXfxPc>.
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Aronson, J, & E. Aronson. 2011, "Readings About The Social Animal" Worth
Publishers, publisher's information at <http://bit.ly/1gFbtk0>. Amazon.com
information at <http://amzn.to/1poLK1T>.
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Bender, A. 2014. "Re: Interesting Article: Why Good Students Do Bad in
College," online on the OPEN! POD archives at <http://bit.ly/RGj3Pr>. Post
of 22 May 2014 17:23:42-0400 to POD.
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Carbone, N. 2014. "NY Times: Who Gets to Graduate?" Online on the OPEN!
POD archives at <http://bit.ly/1pnXsKc>. Post of 15 May 2014 08:09:15-0400
to POD. Carbone wrote: "Apologies for quoting heavily, but there's a lot
in this article by Paul Tough . . . . . .[[(2004)
<http://nyti.ms/1nD3Z1E>]]. . . . . .. that applies to teaching,
professional development for teachers -- whether those teachers are
classroom instructors, TA's, or tutors.
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Clement, J.M. 2014. "Who Gets to Graduate? Online on the CLOSED! PhysLrnR
archives at <http://bit.ly/1kpMTi1>. Post of 17 May 2014 10:39:31-0500 to
PhysLrnR.
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Dweck, C. 2007. "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success." Ballantine
Books, publisher's information at <http://bit.ly/1mQNXA6>. Amazon.com
information at <http://amzn.to/1wzVqZA>, note the searchable "Look Inside"
feature. Author's information at <http://mindsetonline.com/>
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Geddes, L. 2014. "Interesting Article: Why Good Students Do Bad in
College," online on the OPEN! POD archives at <http://bit.ly/1jxkpTj>.
Post of 20 May 2014 12:07:13-0400 to POD. Geddes pointed to"Why Good
Students Do 'Bad' in College: Impactful Insights," on the Learnwell
Projects site at <http://wp.me/p3GGxn-t>.
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Glenn, D. 2010. "Carol Dweck's Attitude: It's not about how smart you
are." Chronicle of Higher Education, 9 May; online at
<http://bit.ly/1kRp0oh>.
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Jackson, J. 2014. "Re: Who gets to graduate? Online on the CLOSED!
PhysLrnR archives at <http://bit.ly/1lYgZdO>. Post of 27 May 2014
09:42:05-0700 PhysLrnR.
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Linse, A. 2014a. "Why Good Students Do Bad in College & Stereotype
Threat," online on the OPEN! POD archives at <http://bit.ly/1jxBCMz>.
Post of 22 May 2014 10:39:43-0400 to POD.
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Linse, A. 2014b. "Why Good Students Do Bad in College & Stereotype
Threat," online on the OPEN! POD archives at <http://bit.ly/1hCVGxg>.
Post of 22 May 2014 11:15:08-0400 to POD.
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Linse, A. 2014c. "Why Good Students Do Bad in College & Stereotype Threat
(not about self esteem)," online on the OPEN! POD archives at
<http://bit.ly/1k8tZkk>. Post of 22 May 2014 11:26:45-0400 to POD.
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Nuhfer, E. 2014. "Re: Interesting Article: Why Good Students Do Bad in
College," online on the OPEN! POD archives at <http://bit.ly/SjVBIz>. Post
of 22 May 2014 21:36:36-0600 to POD.
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Steele, C.M. 2011. "Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What
We Can Do." W.W. Norton, publisher's information at
<http://bit.ly/1lV4EHw>. Amazon.com information at
<http://amzn.to/1hhk1yc>, note the searchable "Look Inside" feature.
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Tough, P. 2014. "Who Gets to Graduate?" New York Times, 15 May; online at
<http://nyti.ms/1nD3Z1E>.
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