What is a stereotype threat? How does stereotype threat manifest differently in a single test-taking experience compared with a more long-term academic experience (i.e. a semester/major)?

How does stereotype threat differ from self-fulfilling prophecies?

When have you witnessed/experienced a stereotype threat? What was your reaction?

Thinking more broadly, what situations might induce stereotype threat in academic settings? Do they impact any demographics of students disproportionately? (Why/why not?)

How might stereotype threat lead to disidentification with the field of study? Why does this seem to occur more frequently among high-achieving students?

How can departments/organizations prevent or reduce stereotype threat according to Steele (or your own ideas)? What should be the role of mentors/TAs in these efforts?

Think about times where you have experienced imposter syndrome. How did those circumstances differ from situations where you felt more comfortable? How have those feelings since changed or not changed?

How could imposter syndrome impact individuals who are students in a class compared with those who are mentors or TAs?

What do you think you can do to fight imposter syndrome? How can mentors help students identify imposter syndrome & help mitigate it?

According to Parkman, “impostorism, at its root, is about an inability to accurately self-assess with regard to performance.”. How would we draw the line between extreme modesty and imposter syndrome?

How might a bad grade impact one’s imposter syndrome? Could a growth mindset affect that impact?

Which of the strategies in Horii et al. have you seen used successfully (or unsuccessfully) in the classroom or mentor sessions?

How can we ensure that analogies we use in mentor sessions both preserve the key points of the original concept yet are also tailored to the student’s current level of knowledge?

Sometimes students attend mentor sessions to check homework answers, and other times to work collaboratively through the course material. How can we structure our mentor sessions to balance these goals?

What might you do if the student’s approach to a problem differs from your own?

How might our typical perception of academia contrast with settings that incorporate humor and other “nontraditional” teaching methods described in the readings?

When have you experienced a growth mindset in your academic career? What about a fixed mindset?

How have you reacted to failure in the past? How did you cope with it?

How do goal orientations change based on a particular learning environment?

Refer to Figure 5 in Henry et al. As mentors, how would you support students in both pre-failure and post-failure contexts?

Dweck specifies that the growth mindset is “not just sheer effort.” How and when should we redirect students who are putting in a lot of effort but not making as much progress in learning?