Effective effort
Use with Exploring “Key influences on learning and achievement”
Persistence is continuation
of effort and striving in the
face of difficulty,
opposition, or failure: it is a
key characteristic of
successful people across
professional and academic
disciplines. Persistence is
evidenced by willingness to
continue to try in the face of
challenge. For students, this
persistence can be a driving
force to help them achieve
their academic, as well as
personal goals. The idea of persistence in the face of adversity is often
described as an outcome of high motivation. For example, students with a high
sense of self-efficacy are shown to persist longer through academic difficulty.
Educators and parents play a significant role in helping students develop
persistence and apply effective effort—proven strategies paired with attitudes
and beliefs that enable students to see the greatest benefit. They can reinforce
a view of intelligence as malleable, or changeable, provide frequent and
specific feedback to students on their academic progress, and encourage
students to reflect on their own experiences with overcoming challenges and
succeeding.
Educators can foster in students specific skills
that are associated with effective effort, such
as time management, organizational strategies,
and goal setting. When students have a plan for
how to deal with challenging academic
situations that includes metacognitive
strategies, or strategies for examining their own
thinking, they are better equipped to continue
to try when they struggle.
And classroom practice influences students’
effort as well. Students are more likely to
persist in productive ways when teachers allow
time for reflection and discussion; when
assignments and tests include opportunities for
Copyright 2012 Agile Mind, Inc.
Content copyright 2012 Charles A.
Dana Center, The University of Texas
at Austin
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Attitudes, Beliefs, and
Student Learning
Effective effort
Use with Exploring “Key influences on learning and achievement”
error analysis; when teachers use questioning to uncover confusion as opposed
to giving an answer right away; when teachers assign tasks that have clear
outcomes and rubrics so students can self-assess; when teachers praise effort
as opposed to outcomes; when teachers foster a community of learners in their
classrooms; when they push students to honestly evaluate their struggles and
their attributions for success and failure.
A related concept that refers to more long-term and sustained persistence is
academic resilience—academic achievement despite a challenging or
threatening circumstance in the educational process. Researchers have
specifically examined the challenges, setbacks, and pressures associated with
academics and argue for greater understanding of academic adversities and the
most effective ways to deal with them.
Copyright 2012 Agile Mind, Inc.
Content copyright 2012 Charles A.
Dana Center, The University of Texas
at Austin
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Attitudes, Beliefs, and
Student Learning
Malleability of intelligence
Use with Exploring “Key influences on learning and achievement”
Malleability of intelligence refers to beliefs about the nature—
and particularly the flexibility—of intelligence. While
intelligence has been much studied within the fields of biology,
genetics, psychology, and the learning sciences, there is no
universally accepted definition of what exactly constitutes
“intelligence.”
But we now know much more about what shapes intelligence.
We know that people regard intelligence either as being fixed—
something that is unchangeable and characteristic—or being
malleable—something that can be changed. How people view
the malleability of intelligence matters a great deal in
education. Students who believe intelligence is fixed typically think that needing to
expend effort to learn indicates low intelligence. When students with a fixed view of
intelligence encounter a concept that they do not immediately and effortlessly
understand, they typically believe that they are incapable of mastering it and thus
expend less effort to learn.
Consider, for a moment, the effect of a belief in fixed intelligence on educators. If
intelligence is fixed, it is impractical and unproductive to keep trying to educate
students when they struggle. Teachers who are unaware of the advances in
neuroscience regarding malleability of intelligence often believe students’
intelligence is fixed, and thus they view struggle as failure instead of a critical part of
learning. Research shows that students can learn more with persistent effort from
those who educate them—and indeed from the sheer conviction of adults that their
capabilities can grow.
When students are taught about the malleability of intelligence, they can come to see
intelligence as increasing with effective effort and hard work. Students who believe
their intelligence can increase typically have more positive attitudes, greater
enjoyment of academic tasks, and stronger learning goals.
Consider these characterizations of fixed and growth mindsets from Carol Dweck, a
Stanford University professor who has conducted 30 years of research into self-beliefs
and mindsets:
“In the fixed mindset, people believe that their talents and abilities are fixed
traits. They have a certain amount and that’s that; nothing can be done to
change it. Many years of research have now shown that when people adopt the
fixed mindset, it can limit their success. They become over-concerned with
Copyright 2012 Agile Mind, Inc.
Content copyright 2012 Charles A. Dana
Center, The University of Texas at Austin
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Attitudes, Beliefs, and
Student Learning
Malleability of intelligence
Use with Exploring “Key influences on learning and achievement”
proving their talents and abilities, hiding deficiencies, and reacting defensively
to mistakes or setbacks-because deficiencies and mistakes imply a (permanent)
lack of talent or ability. People in this mindset will actually pass up important
opportunities to learn and grow if there is a risk of unmasking weaknesses.”
“In the growth mindset, people believe that their talents and abilities can be
developed through passion, education, and persistence. For them, it’s not
about looking smart or grooming their image. It’s about a commitment to
learning–taking informed risks and learning from the results, surrounding
yourself with people who will challenge you to grow, looking frankly at your
deficiencies and seeking to remedy them. Most great business leaders have had
this mindset, because building and maintaining excellent organizations in the
face of constant change requires it.”
Copyright 2012 Agile Mind, Inc.
Content copyright 2012 Charles A. Dana
Center, The University of Texas at Austin
Page 2 of 2
Attitudes, Beliefs, and
Student Learning
Self-efficacy
Use with Exploring “Key influences on learning achievement”
Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s capabilities,
or the degree of confidence that people have
in their ability to succeed at a task that
matters to them. These beliefs play a critical
role in determining the choices people make,
their degree of anxiety while performing tasks,
their level of persistence and effort in the
face of challenge, and their motivation to
complete a task.
Psychologist Albert Bandura, a pioneering
researcher in self-efficacy and the role of
environmental influences in shaping the
concept of self, found that we develop selfefficacy beliefs in four critical ways. For
students, these powerful sources of
information significantly affect the way they
feel about their potential in academic settings:
When students have experienced academic success, they are more likely to
believe they can succeed again in the future. These are known as mastery
experiences.
Students can learn from others who are succeeding at a challenging task, and
increase their own self-efficacy beliefs in the process. These are known as
vicarious experiences.
Students’ beliefs are influenced by the feedback they get from peers and
teachers. This process is referred to as social influence or persuasion.
Students respond to their thoughts, feelings, and physiological states when
they work on a task, and their beliefs are affected by these thoughts, feelings,
and conditions.
Research has shown that self-efficacy is a strong predictor of academic achievement—
whatever the learner’s area of interest or age. Moreover, students with a higher sense
of self-efficacy monitor their progress more frequently, seek help more often, and
engage in strategies to regulate their own efforts.
Students’ self-beliefs and their motivation in academic settings are closely connected.
Students can be motivated from both internal and external sources. Intrinsic
motivation refers to internal drive that causes an activity or a task to be associated
with the experience of personal pleasure or interest. When people are intrinsically
Copyright 2012 Agile Mind, Inc.
Content copyright 2012 Charles A. Dana
Center, The University of Texas at Austin
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Attitudes, Beliefs, and
Student Learning
Self-efficacy
Use with Exploring “Key influences on learning achievement”
motivated, they have a genuine desire for the activity itself and enjoy it or find it
fun.
Research makes clear that, when students are intrinsically motivated to learn or
engage in academic tasks, they are more likely to persist through struggle, continually
evaluate their problem-solving strategies, take intellectual risks, and believe they can
succeed.
Students are more likely to be intrinsically motivated when they associate their
achievement with factors they can control, such as their level of effort. And, intrinsic
motivation is more likely to flourish when students have choice and control over their
learning goals and strategies for accomplishing them.
Extrinsic motivation refers to external drives that influence
the performance of an activity—in essence, driving our efforts
by factors outside of ourselves, such as achieving a reward or
preventing punishment. Extrinsic motivators provide pressure
to either obtain something or avoid harmful feedback.
Extrinsically motivated students are more likely to hold
performance goals that are focused on wanting to look
competent to others or on avoiding failure. Students with
extrinsically motivated goals have been found to be less likely
to seek help and persist in the face of challenge.
For many academic tasks, both extrinsic and intrinsic
motivators interact. For instance, a student may enjoy and
find pleasure in seeking solutions to challenging problems but
also want a good grade on those problems. This supports the
notion that parents and educators should look for ways to tap
into students’ intrinsic motivation around a task, such as their
academic and long-term goals, while still offering external
motivators.
Copyright 2012 Agile Mind, Inc.
Content copyright 2012 Charles A. Dana
Center, The University of Texas at Austin
Page 2 of 2
Attitudes, Beliefs, and
Student Learning
Culture of learning
Use with Exploring “Key influences on learning and achievement”
The culture of learning has a
profound impact on students’
academic behaviors. All educators
have experienced the phenomenon
of a classroom charged with energy
and enthusiasm for learning. But it
can be challenging to replicate that
experience every day to create an
environment that increases the
likelihood that all students will
engage and learn. Current research
indicates that the culture of
learning is shaped by many factors,
including the attitudes and beliefs of the students and educators, the classroom
interactions, the available resources, and the instructional practices employed by the
teacher.
The culture of learning is positively affected when educators and students develop a
true community of learners. A community of learners can be defined as a group of
people who share values and beliefs and who actively engage in learning from one
another—learners from teachers, teachers from learners, and learners from learners.
They thus create a learning-centered environment in which students and educators
are actively and intentionally constructing knowledge together. Learning communities
are connected, cooperative, and supportive. Peers are interdependent in that they
have joint responsibility for learning and share resources and points of view, while
sustaining a mutually respectful and cohesive environment.
A positive learning community supports diverse student capabilities by enabling all
members to participate at their level of expertise and comfort—and, specifically, is
characterized by feelings of safety among participants, as well as willingness to ask
questions and make mistakes. This supported engagement motivates students so that
they are more willing to persist when they are challenged or confused. Environments
that foster beliefs of competence through effort can create a secure sense of
belonging; one’s interest, commitment, and progress matter more than one’s
perceived ability (Inzlicht & Good, 2006). Thus, creating a safe community in which
peers and teachers are viewed as allies is essential for greater engagement and
academic achievement.
Copyright 2012 Agile Mind, Inc.
Content copyright 2012 Charles A. Dana
Center, The University of Texas at Austin
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Attitudes, Beliefs, and
Student Learning
Culture of learning
Use with Exploring “Key influences on learning and achievement”
School systems interested in building learning communities, within classrooms and
school wide, can attend to these recommendations from the research literature:
Encourage, expect, and require authentic collegiality among the adults in the
system
Model, encourage, and expect student participation and active engagement
Set high expectations for all students while providing appropriate social and
academic supports
Promote a sense of belonging among students by encouraging and recognizing
diverse expressions of competence and expertise
Copyright 2012 Agile Mind, Inc.
Content copyright 2012 Charles A. Dana
Center, The University of Texas at Austin
Page 2 of 2
Attitudes, Beliefs, and
Student Learning