Growth Mindset Intervention: Enhancing Student Engagement through Effort-Based Feedback on Physics Lessons

Background: Fostering a growth mindset is increasingly recognized as vital to student motivation and engagement. Drawing on the work of Dweck (2017), Sousa (2016), and Hattie (2007), this study explores how effort-based feedback can shift classroom culture from one focused on ability and performance to one that values persistence, progress, and collaborative learning. Within high-stakes educational contexts like Kazakhstan, where academic success is often equated with innate ability, the need for practical strategies to support student confidence and engagement is particularly pressing. Aims: The study aimed to explore the question: How does effort-based feedback promote student engagement in learning? Specifically, it examined how praise focused on effort and persistence influenced students’ confidence, participation, and willingness to take risks in a 10th-grade physics classroom. Design and Context: This lesson study was conducted with a class of 12 tenth-grade students (ages 15–16) at Nazarbayev Intellectual School of Physics and Mathematics (NIS PM) in Astana, Kazakhstan. The class was selected for its mixed academic performance and observable disengagement, particularly due to fear of making mistakes. The entire class participated in the intervention, which spanned three research lessons focused on radioactivity. Six teachers from multiple disciplines (physics, mathematics, English, and history) collaborated in planning and reflecting on each lesson. Activities were designed to encourage effort, collaboration, and comfort with learning through mistakes. Observations focused on three case students representing high, average, and low academic performance. Methods: The research followed a three-cycle lesson study format: collaborative planning, classroom teaching and observation, and reflective discussion. Teachers prepared personalized effort-based praise statements in advance but adapted these based on real-time student responses. Feedback was delivered during and after group work and problem-solving activities. Observations and student interviews captured changes in engagement, confidence, and participation. All data were collected during regular classroom instruction. Findings: The use of effort-based feedback led to visible increases in student engagement, particularly among students who had previously been hesitant or underperforming. Teachers also noticed a shift in classroom atmosphere: students took more risks, asked more questions, and supported one another. The collaborative, interdisciplinary approach enabled teachers to see how growth mindset strategies could be transferred across subjects. Conclusions: Effort-based feedback is a powerful tool for increasing student engagement, especially in settings where fear of failure limits participation. This study highlights the importance of tailoring praise to students’ behaviours and developmental needs, and of using interdisciplinary collaboration to design supportive learning environments. Teachers reported that this approach led to more meaningful feedback, improved relationships, and a stronger sense of community in the classroom.

Keywords (free text)

growth mindset, student engagement, effort-based feedback, collaborative planning, physics education, lesson study

Permanent link to cite this item

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14069/969

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Lesson Study Kazakhstan, 2024-2025