Exploratory Study of Factors Impacting Mindset in Youth Involved in the Indiana 4-H Animal Science Project

Kelsey Sajdera, Purdue University

Abstract

Youth develop beliefs about one’s own ability at a young age, however feedback and information about the learning process can help youth understand that they can continually grow and learn. Their belief about their abilities is considered their mindset, a concept that has come forth by Dr. Carol Dweck. This research is based in the 4-H program and looking at the factors that can contribute to the mindset of youth involved in the animal science project through 4-H. The 4-H program is one of the largest youth development programs in the United States. This program involves over six million youth, 611,800 volunteers, and 3,500 professionals. With mounting research, scientists have come to believe that learning can be lifelong as the brain has greater capacity to develop than thought in the past (Dweck, 2006; Quendler & Lamb, 2016; Zuber-Skerritt, & Teare, 2013). Some believe that your mind can only take in so much and that max is a fixed integral while others believe in the lifelong learning. However, the 4-H program believes in lifelong learning and has a unique feedback system that allows youth to ask questions about the process of their project. Feedback according to Earley, Northcraft, Lee, and Lituchy (1990) can “provide information about the correctness, accuracy, and adequacy of work behaviors (p. 87)”. There is always room for mistakes and having the chance to try again next year. In order to select the participants for this study the researcher grouped agricultural classrooms into one of the five 4-H districts. Then randomly selected five different agricultural classrooms to gather information about demographics, experiences of the youth involved, mindset, mastery, and feedback mechanisms. There was one district that the researcher could not find a school willing to participate thus data was collected from four schools. Questionnaires were completed by 255 students in their agricultural classroom. The study revealed that most of the youth involved in animal science project have a growth mindset and receive the most feedback from their parents or other relatives, (19.3%). Additionally, mastery was related to the feedback received and the mindset of the youth. There is a significant correlation between the animal science project and the mastery of the content (r = .279, p <.000). By using Goal Orientation Theory (Schunk, Meece, & Pintrich, 2012) the researcher could find two main conclusions of mindsets and feedback of youth that are involved in animal science project. One conclusion being that 4-H really should utilize the volunteers and leaders to instill a growth mindset and allow a youth to master the material that they are interested in. Secondly, there was a correlation to the amount of feedback, type of feedback, and from whom the feedback came affected the mindset of the youth. Practical recommendations would be that those working with youth understand mindset, give intentional feedback. It would also be recommended that further research be done on the feedback that youth in animal science project receive. There were a few constraints to the study including only reaching four of the five 4-H districts as one district could not be contacted. However, with the data provided there was still a good number to analyze the mindset of youth that are involved.

Degree

M.S.

Advisors

Brady, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Educational evaluation|Animal sciences

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