"The thinking cap 2.0"

What is it about?

In this work we suggest to harness the power of knowledge-seeking positive experiences, engagement, and curiosity that objects perceived as magical carry in themselves by combining them with pop-cultural references and neuroscience in order to derive a novel intervention to foster a growth mindset in children of 8-12 years old. We created “The Thinking Cap 2.0," a wearable system in the form-factor of masks, tiaras, or helmets from different sci-fi universes like Star Wars or Avengers, fitted with a commercially available electroencephalography (EEG) headset or headband and a Bluetooth speaker. We adopt the form-factor towards the preferences of the child, which universe or hero is being their favorite one. We designed and conducted a first study with 50 children to investigate the effect of using “The Thinking Cap” to foster children’s mindset. In the case of our study we assessed the mindset and self-esteem of the children of 8-12 years old before and after the “intervention” using the "Cap" in order to see if any changes in the self-perception of the children could be observed and if the "Cap" helps children gain more self- confidence in their capabilities to solve math problems. The "Cap" uses Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) algorithms to recognize mental imagery of the child pre-trained for a 2-class choice problem. In an initial phase, the "Cap" is used to recognize and report on the brain patterns of the user. We believe that demonstrating such basic recognition of brain signals will lead the child to develop trust in the hat’s ability to “know them." Thus, when the "Cap" in a later phase praises the child who wears it for their ability and/or effort on a task, the child is likely to listen to it and be affected by its suggestions in their subsequent performance. We hypothesized that using the "Cap" can thus lead to fostering growth mindset.

Featured Image

Photo by Jonathan Cooper on Unsplash

Photo by Jonathan Cooper on Unsplash

Why is it important?

We believe that early prototypes like our system might pave the way to future systems to be tested in-the-wild and as at-home interventions, which in some situations like a COVID-19 health crisis might be largely beneficial. Ultimately, there is also a tangible element to our system, as opposed to the many online-only mindset interventions that currently exist, which might encourage more interactions and potentially a longer-lasting efect in children. This must still be tested and verifed.

Perspectives