Applying Growth Mindset: feedback and challenge

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Before this course, and how to read effect sizes

In simple words

If a new shoe makes you run a tiny bit faster, is it magic? No. Is it useless? Also no. To judge, you need to ask "how much faster?" and "for whom?". An effect size is the "how much".

Before this course: Growth Mindset (course 9.9). You already know the fixed and growth mindsets, "yet", the four-step error review, process praise and the limits of the research. Here we apply those ideas to feedback and challenge, and we look at the numbers more closely.

Key facts

An effect size says how big a difference is. A common one, Cohen's d, is the gap between two groups measured in standard deviations (a standard measure of how spread out scores are). Bigger d means a bigger difference.
Small does not mean nothing. A small average can hide a bigger effect for some people and none for others. It can also be cheap to deliver at large scale.
Small also does not mean important. Studies can find an effect that is real but too small to notice in one classroom.
Numbers from the Beginner course and newer sources:
Sisk et al. (2018) found the average effect of mindset interventions on achievement was small (about d = 0.08).
Yeager et al. (2019): two online sessions of about 25 minutes; lower-achieving ninth graders gained on average 0.10 grade points; Algebra II or higher enrolment rose by 3 percentage points.
Yeager and Dweck (2020) argue that effects depend on context ("mindset x context") and that preregistered and third-party studies support the idea that interventions can work. Critics argue the small effects mean the interventions matter little. Both sides are published in the research literature.
A good habit: when you hear "research shows", ask four questions: How big? For whom? In what setting? Has it been repeated by other teams?

Claim	Better question
"Growth mindset raises grades!"	By how much, and for which students?
"Growth mindset does not work!"	Does it fail for everyone, or only on average?
"A study proved it."	Was it repeated by independent teams?

Step by step

Pick one claim about mindset that you have heard (a post, a poster, a teacher).
Write the claim in one sentence.
Ask "how big?" and look for a number. If there is none, write "no number given".
Ask "for whom?" and "in what setting?" and write what the source says.
Ask "has anyone else repeated it?" and look for a second source.
Write a fairer version of the claim, with the size and the limit in it.
Check: your rewritten claim contains a size (or says it is missing) and a limit.

LESSON 01Before this course, and how to read effect sizes

LESSON 01 / ANIMATED LESSON / AI VOICE00:00 / 01:00

Voice

Read the video script

[Host] "Does it work? That question is too simple. Ask how much, for whom, and where."
[Text on screen: Effect size = size of the difference] "An effect size tells you how big a difference is, measured in standard deviations."
[Screen: bar showing average effect small, some students higher] "In big reviews of mindset programs, the average effect was small. In one national study, lower-achieving students gained about a tenth of a grade point."
[Host] "Small is not nothing, and it is not magic. Read the number, then read the limit."

Try it now

Find one online claim about growth mindset. Rewrite it using the four questions (how big, for whom, where, repeated?). Keep both versions.

ClaudeStuck? Copy a ready-made prompt for Claude

Copy this, open Claude, paste it, and Claude will walk you through the lesson step by step.

For a grown-up: Claude is for adults (18+). Copy this, paste it into Claude, and use the answer to explain the lesson to your child.

I'm learning "Applying Growth Mindset: feedback and challenge" on The Future Market. Lesson 1: "Before this course, and how to read effect sizes".

What the lesson teaches:
- An effect size says how big a difference is. A common one, Cohen's d, is the gap between two groups measured in standard deviations (a standard measure of how spread out scores are). Bigger d means a bigger difference.
- Small does not mean nothing. A small average can hide a bigger effect for some people and none for others. It can also be cheap to deliver at large scale.
- Small also does not mean important. Studies can find an effect that is real but too small to notice in one classroom.
- Numbers from the Beginner course and newer sources:
- Sisk et al. (2018) found the average effect of mindset interventions on achievement was small (about d = 0.08).
- Yeager et al. (2019): two online sessions of about 25 minutes; lower-achieving ninth graders gained on average 0.10 grade points; Algebra II or higher enrolment rose by 3 percentage points.
- Yeager and Dweck (2020) argue that effects depend on context ("mindset x context") and that preregistered and third-party studies support the idea that interventions can work. Critics argue the small effects mean the interventions matter little. Both sides are published in the research literature.

The exercise I'm working on:
Find one online claim about growth mindset. Rewrite it using the four questions (how big, for whom, where, repeated?). Keep both versions.

I'm stuck. Please:
1. Explain the main idea in plain, simple words with one everyday example.
2. Walk me through the exercise one small step at a time. Ask me what I've done so far before giving the next step.
3. Don't just give me the final answer. Help me do it myself, and check my work when I share it.

I'm a parent helping my child (about 8 years old) with a lesson called "Before this course, and how to read effect sizes" from the course "Applying Growth Mindset: feedback and challenge".

Here's what the lesson says:
If a new shoe makes you run a tiny bit faster, is it magic? No. Is it useless? Also no. To judge, you need to ask "how much faster?" and "for whom?". An effect size is the "how much".

The activity:
Find one online claim about growth mindset. Rewrite it using the four questions (how big, for whom, where, repeated?). Keep both versions.

Please explain this so an 8-year-old understands: short sentences, a fun everyday example, and no hard words.
Then give me 3 simple questions I can ask my child to check they understood, and a way to do the activity together, one tiny step at a time.

Open Claude

Sources

Sisk et al. (2018), Psychological Science: doi.org/10.1177/0956797617739704
Yeager et al. (2019), Nature: doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1466-y
Yeager & Dweck (2020), "What can be learned from growth mindset controversies?", American Psychologist (abstract): pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33382294/

My notes

I learned this

02