A growth mindset positively impacts academic achievement, motivation, and student’s agency for learning (Dweck, 2016). There is increasing evidence that students’ recognition of their capacity to learn using a growth mindset assists them to achieve greater success in learning in the primary and adolescent years (Claro et al., 2016; Good et al., 2003; Paunesku et al., 2015; Yeager et al., 2019). However, very few studies have researched how to support the development of student’s growth mindset in the early years. A limited understanding of the teaching of mindset theory as a metacognitive strategy in early childhood classrooms warrants further exploration. Developing student’s growth mindset in the early years may assist students to build effective learning strategies for future academic success. This study investigated the current perceptions that early childhood teachers have of mindset theory and devised principles to support them to incorporate the teaching of mindset theory and foster a growth mindset in students. The theoretical framework for this study draws upon Deweyan pragmatism whereby knowledge is gained through interventions as connections between actions and consequences are made (Tashakkori, 2010). Design Based Research (DBR) was used in this study as a methodology for exploring an educational problem to understand how, when, and why educational innovations work in practice. Entrenched in practice, DBR considers the influence of place to produce theoretical and practical insights to extend knowledge and sustain innovative learning environments. Using a pragmatist paradigm this mixed methods study followed four stages of DBR (Brown, 1992; Collins, 1992) over 10 weeks to develop design principles in early childhood classrooms in one school in Western Australia. Two iterations were designed and examined with teachers of children aged 3.5–6.5 years. The participants recorded weekly video diaries to reflect on the principles. Three focus groups were conducted, at the beginning, middle, and end of the two iterations, allowing the researcher and teachers to collaboratively develop, refine, and reflect on the principles. Throughout the DBR process, design principles were developed by drawing on theory and the real world to address the research problem. This study’s contribution lies in the theoretical and practical grounding of the nine design principles which teachers found highly effective in assisting them to foster students’ growth mindsets for positive learning outcomes in early childhood contexts.

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