<p> This study examined whether teaching character competencies of growth mindset and grit in advisory to middle school students increases motivation in the classroom. The problem being addressed is the perceptions of teachers that student motivation has decreased over time, and the significance is benefits derived from the ability to increase motivation. A mixed methods approach with an action research design is used for collecting data before, during, and after delivery of the lessons/interventions, from self-reports, surveys, and journals, and the qualitative data augments findings of quantitative data. The qualitative findings allude to the possibility that the concepts of growth mindset and grit can be taught, but quantitative data do not support this conclusion. Mean scores for growth mindset, grit, and motivation are charted from pretest to posttest, and significance of observed differences of experimental and control group means were tested with a <i>t</i>-test. Teacher growth mindset means showed statistical significance and a moderate to large effect size, but that was not true for student growth mindset means and student or teacher data for grit or motivation. Multiple linear regression analyses did not prove any causal relationship between growth mindset and motivation, or grit and motivation, but the effect of grit was much greater than the effect of growth mindset on motivation. </p><p> <i><b>Keywords:</b></i> motivation, character competencies, growth mindset, grit, middle school students, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, persistence</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10119261 |
| Date | 20 July 2016 |
| Creators | Garofalo, Austin E. |
| Publisher | New England College |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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