How to critically evaluate educational research: The growth mindset case
Ilya Zrudlo (Queen’s University, Canada)

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The purpose of this paper is to illustrate four complementary ways in which teachers and teacher educators can critically evaluate the results of educational research. The four proposed critical angles are: (1) reviewing available empirical studies, especially through the lens of insights drawn from statistics; (2) carefully considering the context of educational research; (3) analysing the way in which research constructs may be embedded in or influenced by idiosyncratic features of culture; and (4) paying attention to conceptual integrity and (re)turning to ordinary language. I critically evaluate the research on ‘growth mindset’ interventions to illustrate these four complementary angles.

Ilya Zrudlo is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Philosophy at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada. He has two main research programmes. The first investigates the moral and intellectual capacities young people need to acquire in order to contribute to the development of their communities, particularly in urban contexts in North America. The second research programme focuses on teaching and teacher education, exploring the nature of teaching itself, the role of philosophy in teacher education, and how philosophical analyses of popular educational slogans and interventions can protect teachers from the ongoing torrent of fads and fashions in the field. Dr. Zrudlo’s ORCiD profile can be accessed here.

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For further inquiries: Yuxin Su (yuxin.su.16@ucl.ac.uk).

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