Mindsets
Why we need to build a growth mindset
By: Tara Conner
What is a growth mindset?
A growth mindset is when you believe you can get better and grow on what you know. You want to challenge yourself, you think of challenges as steps towards more learning and success.
What is a fixed mindset?
A fixed mindset is when you believe that you are either good at something or not but you always want to be good and wont take challenges or risks if it means you could fail. You think that if you fail its the end.
The Theory
Carol Dweck came up with the theory of mindsets. You either have a growth mindset where you believe that the more you learn the more knowledgeable you'll be, while on the other hand you could have a fixed mindset where you believe you were born with a certain amount of knowledge. As teachers you need to start teaching to develop kids at a young age to have a growth mindset, because in the many studies Carol Dweck took to prove her theory she found that the kids who had mindset training and kids who didn't have mindset training and she did an experiment where they started at the same point but after time the growth mindset kids grew in knowledge and prevailed while the kids with no growth mindset training failed and got worse.
This is why we need to teach our kids to develop a growth mindset in the long run it will help our kids grow.
Why we need to have a growth mindset instead of a fixed mindset
A kid with fixed mindset will only think about grades and the praise "your smart" while a kid with growth mindset will learn from their bad grades and will look forward to the praise "you worked hard". We want children to change to a growth mindset so they realize they can get better and that failing something is not the end of the world its just the next step to getting better. If kids understand this they will be able to keep on growing and small stuff like a bad grade wont hold them back.
The Power of Yet!
Its one of the many things that drives growth mindset kids forward, when they hear you put yet on the end of something or not yet they believe they will eventually be able to succeed. So before you say something to reward them on how they place think of YET or NOT YET, reward the kids on effort not their work, its what will turn kids into someone with a growth mindset.
Critics of the Theory
Carol Dweck was the founder of the theory mindsets, she did many tests on elementary and middle school kids, to prove her theory. She has a lot of evidence to prove her theory but there are always critics such as Alfie Kohn who counteracts Carol Dweck's view of praise. He thinks we shouldn't change our kids minds but school system.
Cites
-http://www.progressfocused.com/2015/08/alfie-kohns-misleading-critique-on.html
-http://www.progressfocusedapproach.com/alfie-kohns-critique-on-praise-which-differs-from-carol-dwecks/
-http://jamesclear.com/fixed-mindset-vs-growth-mindset
-https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/29/carol-dweck-mindset/
-http://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN34FNbOKXc