Nursing Students' Mindsets and Choice of Learning Strategies

Background: Nursing students may not use the most effective learning strategies. Offering students an academic success model such as Dweck's mindset model may improve student learning. The influence of nursing students' mindsets on study strategies has not been explored. Purpose: This study examined nursing students' mindset proclivity and choice of learning strategies. Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional quantitative pilot study used a web-based survey to examine a national sample of 151 nursing students' mindsets and learning habits. Results: Students with a growth mindset demonstrated the use of more effective learning strategies than their fixed mindset peers. Conclusions: Nurse educators need to assess student learning because half of the students in this study had never had anyone teach them how to learn effectively. Early evidence is emerging that the growth mindset model may hold promise as an academic success model for nursing education.