Development of Student Growth Mindset through Informal Learning

Through research, a connection between student facilitation of physics outreach and identity, resilience, and career development has been found. Previously, studies have been limited to individual institutions with a limited number of participants. In this study, a national survey was distributed to the Society of Physics Students chapters, collecting self-reported data on individual experiences in facilitating physics outreach. We gathered responses to three open-ended questions posed to survey respondents who had participated in informal physics outreach programs. These responses were then analyzed, focusing on themes surrounding growth/fixed mindset. A thematic analysis was conducted, identifying three main themes related to students' growth mindset: realization of understanding, recognition of there being more to learn, and confidence in their ability/knowledge. Specifically, we examined responses that highlighted the directionality of mindset, where students shared whether outreach influenced their mindset in the discipline or they carried their mindset from the discipline to their outreach activities. The results indicate that students who participated in outreach were likely to develop a growth mindset through informal learning. In addition, data from a prior local study were analyzed with similar results being found. This local and national data will be discussed in detail.