As the year comes to a close, the Student Experience Research Network is pleased to release the final seven research snapshots from our Mindsets and the Learning Environment Initiative.

The research portfolio was launched to explore how learning environments shape students’ mindsets about learning and school. The studies in the portfolio took an expansive view of the learning environment by investigating educators’ language and practices, students’ perceptions of their institutions, students’ home experiences, and more. The snapshots linked here provide overviews, key findings, and future directions for each line of research.

A neurobiological investigation of the relationship between early adverse experiences and growth mindset among children: Andrei Cimpian, Nim Tottenham, and Kali Trzesniewski examine the cognitive performance of children ages 6-12, as well as their mindsets and their parents’ mindsets.

Language as thought: Using natural language processing to investigate mindsets, learning environments, and college success: Sidney D’Mello, Angela Duckworth, and colleagues analyze students’ written responses in their college applications to explore the connections between extracurricular/work experiences, psychological factors, and college graduation.

Learning mindsets, teacher practice, and school organizations: Becoming Effective Learners Survey and 5 Essentials: Camille Farrington, Shanette Porter, and colleagues use a rich set of survey data from teachers and students in 6^th-12^th grade to investigate which learning environments and teacher practices are related to students’ grades and perceptions of the environment.

Pairing light-touch learning mindset interventions with a long-term campus initiative: Barbara Schneider, Soobin Kim, and John Yun analyze the impact of an online learning mindset intervention and a mentoring program for first-year students at Michigan State University.

The impact of the African American Male Achievement initiative and implications for advancing equity at a district level: Thomas Dee and Emily Penner evaluate the impact of a comprehensive in-school program in Oakland, California that is designed to create supportive spaces and structures for black male high school students.

The relationship among growth mindset classroom climate, trust and respect, and student performance in mathematics: Stephanie Fryberg, Mary Murphy, and colleagues explore students’ perception of their teachers’ mindsets in a nationally representative sample of 9^th grade students in regular U.S. high schools.

The relationship between childhood adversity and motivational beliefs among older children and adolescents: Katie McLaughlin, Robert Crosnoe, and Maya Rosen seek to understand whether childhood experiences of threat and/or deprivation are related to learning mindsets among children ages 10-18.

You may also want to revisit the six snapshots for projects funded earlier in the initiative:

• A big biodata approach to mindsets, learning environments, and college success
• Developmental neural and psychosocial correlates of learning mindsets among low socioeconomic adolescents from two cultural groups
• Evidence from half a million students on the importance of belonging in schools
• Relationships between mindsets and academic outcomes in a statewide system of higher education
• Relationships between mindsets, socioeconomic status, and academic achievement
• Understanding the impact of “psychologically wise” classroom practices on student achievement

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