The following was written by Patty Brunet, a high school science teacher and DoW STEM Ambassador. DoW STEM Ambassadors work with the Defense STEM Education Consortium (DSEC) to advance STEM outreach for students who are underrepresented in STEM and/or military connected. Brunet was selected by TGR Foundation, a DSEC partner, as their DoW STEM ambassador for the 2021-2022 school year.

Students have changed a lot since I began my career in education. So has my approach. I’ve found effective ways to teach scientific concepts to students with learning difficulties that work well for all students. Inclusivity is so important! I’ve also found that when students are encouraged to chat amongst themselves, they do a really good job teaching each other.

I have read many articles that include some version of “growth mindset in education” in the title but few useful ones. Most are written by a well-meaning researcher or administrator seeking to help students receive more passing grades. I, too, am interested in my students achieving passing grades, just without the immense workload most articles suggest! For example, instructions to “retake all assessments as many times as desired” or “redo assignments until satisfactory scores are achieved” make me shudder. I have been a classroom teacher for more than 30 years — the grading workload struggle is real.

I believe in student feedback and will not collect an assignment I do not plan on grading. Even with my easy methods for marking homework and classwork, I still have significant hours of grading each week. I’m sure most classroom teachers can commiserate. So how can teachers better support student desire to improve? I truly wish for a manageable growth mindset policy.

As a chemistry instructor, I feel a responsibility to grade my students on what they have been able to learn, not just for attendance. I do give points for taking notes, for participating and for completing assignments, such as homework. My homework policy is to award full credit for complete attempts on an assignment, not for correctness, as I believe homework is a student's place to make mistakes and learn from them. My recent challenge has been recognizing that many students just want the points for completing the assignment and truly do not care about correcting their mistakes… Sigh.

So, one way I successfully insert a growth mindset in my classroom is to use group quizzes, or small assessments designed for table groups of four. Each student receives a different version of the same quiz and is encouraged to collaborate. Sometimes I allow use of notes but most often it is only what they know or can figure out together. I have been fascinated with the level of learning that happens during these focused assignments, and the grading load is the same as a typical individual assessment, maybe a little better since it's always easier to grade a well-done assignment.

I tried this strategy prior to the pandemic but it was recently reinforced for me from a college professor’s virtual classroom. My son took an online statistics class in Summer 2020, and I overheard how the professor was using breakout rooms for quizzes. I thought this was an interesting idea and tried it in my own breakout rooms with limited success. As we transitioned back to the classroom, I decided to give it another try and have been pleasantly surprised with student results.

Following are some comments from my students: “It helped me understand things I didn’t know, and I was able to learn how to do it with the support of my group” (Madison, 10th-grader). The group element can be so helpful for students: “Sometimes I better understand one thing than another so combining brain power is super helpful” (Allie, 10th-grader).

Growth mindset can be a tricky venture. How do you allow students to revisit work without adding to the grading workload? I do believe students can learn from failure, but with high stress upon grades in high school, it can be a nerve-racking and unwanted experience. Yet I have found my students know it is valuable: “I learned that it is ok to fail, but it is important to learn from your mistakes” (Salis, 10th-grader).

I continue to look for ways to foster growth in my students. Even though there are ample opportunities to learn in my classroom, I have yet to see a more concentrated occurrence than during group quizzes. I wish students approached all assignments in this way. As students continue to change and bring forth new challenges, I am always looking for new ways to facilitate their growth.