Fostering Preservice Teachers' Research-Related Beliefs and Motivation With Growth Mindset and Utility Value Interventions

We investigated whether growth mindset (GM) and utility value (UV) interventions can change preservice teachers' skeptical beliefs about educational research and improve their willingness to engage with research. In an online experiment (Study 1, N = 84), the GM intervention increased growth mindset and research-related expectancy beliefs, and the UV intervention increased utility value beliefs. Both interventions also increased participants' self-reported willingness to engage with research, and UV intervention participants additionally selected more science-related links for further reading. In a randomized field study (Study 2, N = 177), we compared the effects of the GM and UV interventions with an intervention that combined the central elements of the other two. The combined intervention was comparable to the GM intervention in increasing growth mindset and expectancy beliefs and comparable to the UV intervention in increasing utility value beliefs. It had no additional effects on willingness to engage with research. The combined intervention was therefore not more effective but more efficient than the individual interventions. We conclude that brief online interventions can be a practical tool for teacher educators who aim to support their learners' research-related beliefs and motivation.