The AMA measures student attitudes toward learning that can be important to success in the classroom. It is composed of nine questions based on the four elements of academic mindset that Steven Chew describes in a recent article he wrote for the Teaching Professor: Sense of Belonging, Growth Mindset, Self-Efficacy, and Relevance. The questions in the AMA are based on those found in established instruments (e.g., Carol Dweck's Growth Mindset Scale) that focus on specific elements of academic mindset.

The AMA asks students whether they strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, or strongly disagree with each of the following nine statements:

  1. I have a good relationship with other students in my school. (SENSE OF BELONGING)
  2. I have a good relationship with other students in my economics classes. (SENSE OF BELONGING)
  3. People can learn new things, but they can’t really change their basic intelligence. (GROWTH MINDSET)
  4. I think that nearly everyone is capable of understanding economics if they work at it. (GROWTH MINDSET)
  5. I believe I can succeed at most any endeavor to which I set my mind. (SELF-EFFICACY)
  6. Even when an economics course is challenging, I can perform quite well. (SELF-EFFICACY)
  7. I think about economic events I experience and witness in day to day life (e.g., in my own life and decisions, on the news, in (RELEVANCE OF ECONOMICS) internet articles).
  8. I think economics is interesting and applicable for people like me. (RELEVANCE OF ECONOMICS)
  9. I am planning to take at least one more economics course after this one. (RELEVANCE OF ECONOMICS)

This assessment can be given at the beginning or end of the term. In fact, more than 30 institutions around the world are using the AMA at the beginning and end of the term starting in Spring 2024 to learn how student mindset changes during the term and how instructor/course/institution characteristics might influence this evolution. If you want to be part of this multi-site collaborative project, check out the Economic Education Network for Experiments (EENE) for more information.

The AMA is also available in Spanish.