The terms "fixed mindset" and "growth mindset" were first introduced by Professor Carol Dweck. Simply put, students with a fixed mindset are more afraid to fail since they perceive their skills as something "absolute". This makes failure practically unbearable, especially in social situations like in a classroom. Students with a growth mindset see failure as a growth opportunity.
Learning is not merely the convection of content, but it also entails a shift in mindset. Learning is only possible with engagement, motivation, and an open mind. Motivational dimensions like contextualization and autonomy dramatically increase students’ engagement, content retention, amount of learning per time, and levels of aspiration. Motivation is deeply linked to one’s desire to learn and one’s ability to learn (read more from Wentzel & Miele). Motivation is part of learning. Given that STEM resources have been available equally for boys and girls for some time, while participation still differs, an unintentional imbalance in appealing to learners’ motivations may be the main barrier to equality in STEM education.
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