A mixed-methods study on the effects of a growth mindset program in Finnish elementary schools

Sonja Laine; Ita Puusepp; Elina Kuusisto; Inkeri Rissanen; Kirsi Tirri

doi:10.1080/00313831.2025.2492051

A mixed-methods study on the effects of a growth mindset program in Finnish elementary schools

Sonja Laine, Ita Puusepp, Elina Kuusisto, Inkeri Rissanen, Kirsi Tirri

Education

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Abstract

The aim of the present study was to explore the effects of a growth mindset intervention program called I can learn among Finnish elementary school students. Altogether, 116 third-grade students participated in this study, which used both quantitative and qualitative evidence to measure the effects of the intervention program. Even though the quantitative data showed no clear effect for the intervention on students’ mindsets and effort beliefs, the qualitative data revealed that students in the intervention group reported more emotional control strategies and effort self-talk as well as less ability self-talk in challenging learning situations compared to the control groups. Nonetheless, these differences between the experimental groups were short-lived, with no differences observed eighteen months after the intervention.

Original language	English
Journal	Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2025.2492051
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 20 Apr 2025
Publication type	A1 Journal article-refereed

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10.1080/00313831.2025.2492051Licence: CC BY

A mixed-methods study on the effects of a growth mindset program in Finnish elementary schoolsFinal published version, 825 KBLicence: CC BY

https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202506046664Licence: CC BY

13 Article
1 Chapter

Finnish students’ conceptions of giftedness and intelligence in basic education
Laine, S., Kuusisto, E. & Tirri, K., 2024, In: Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research. 68, 2, p. 141-159
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Development of associations between elementary school students’ mindsets and attentional neural processing of feedback in an arithmetic task
Puusepp, I., Linnavalli, T., Tammi, T., Huotilainen, M., Kujala, T., Laine, S., Kuusisto, E. & Tirri, K., 14 Mar 2023, In: Frontiers in Psychology. 14, 1155264.
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Finnish and Estonian teachers’ views on the nature of intelligence
Ronkainen, R., Kuusisto, E., Eisenschmidt, E. & Tirri, K., 9 Nov 2022, In: Frontiers in Education. 7, 959215.
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2 Citations (Scopus)

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Cite this

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title = "A mixed-methods study on the effects of a growth mindset program in Finnish elementary schools",

abstract = "The aim of the present study was to explore the effects of a growth mindset intervention program called I can learn among Finnish elementary school students. Altogether, 116 third-grade students participated in this study, which used both quantitative and qualitative evidence to measure the effects of the intervention program. Even though the quantitative data showed no clear effect for the intervention on students{\textquoteright} mindsets and effort beliefs, the qualitative data revealed that students in the intervention group reported more emotional control strategies and effort self-talk as well as less ability self-talk in challenging learning situations compared to the control groups. Nonetheless, these differences between the experimental groups were short-lived, with no differences observed eighteen months after the intervention.",

author = "Sonja Laine and Ita Puusepp and Elina Kuusisto and Inkeri Rissanen and Kirsi Tirri",

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AU - Laine, Sonja

AU - Puusepp, Ita

AU - Kuusisto, Elina

AU - Rissanen, Inkeri

AU - Tirri, Kirsi

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AB - The aim of the present study was to explore the effects of a growth mindset intervention program called I can learn among Finnish elementary school students. Altogether, 116 third-grade students participated in this study, which used both quantitative and qualitative evidence to measure the effects of the intervention program. Even though the quantitative data showed no clear effect for the intervention on students’ mindsets and effort beliefs, the qualitative data revealed that students in the intervention group reported more emotional control strategies and effort self-talk as well as less ability self-talk in challenging learning situations compared to the control groups. Nonetheless, these differences between the experimental groups were short-lived, with no differences observed eighteen months after the intervention.

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ER -

A mixed-methods study on the effects of a growth mindset program in Finnish elementary schools

Abstract

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Research output

Finnish students’ conceptions of giftedness and intelligence in basic education

Development of associations between elementary school students’ mindsets and attentional neural processing of feedback in an arithmetic task

Finnish and Estonian teachers’ views on the nature of intelligence

Cite this