Teachers as Creators of Classroom Culture: Videos from the Driving Toward Equity Through School Improvement CoP Session

Mary Murphy

As part of Equity Indicators in the Classroom: Highly Effective Teachers and Teaching, Dr. Mary Murphy, Indiana University and Stanford’s Center for Advanced Studies in Behavioral Sciences, discusses the necessity of creating a growth mindset culture in classrooms. 

Part 1: Understanding Mindset As Culture Video

Dr. Murphy provides an introduction to new ways to think about mindset, focusing on instructor mindset and the creation of a mindset culture. She describes how an instructor’s mindset culture can have strong effects on student learning, especially true for students who have been negatively stereotyped in terms of intelligence and ability.

Part 2: Two Studies of Growth Mindset Cultures   

Dr. Murphy describes the results of two large scale studies in higher education testing the hypotheses about the effects of instructor mindset. She includes information about what instructors say and do that communicate their beliefs about mindset to students.

Part 3: How to Address Mindset Culture  

Dr. Murphy describes how institutions and teachers can employ techniques to create growth mindset cultures that benefit all students but especially those who have been negatively stereotyped. The video describes tools and practices that faculty in six institutions used to change their instructional messages and behaviors in STEM courses along with the results on academic performance.