Sunday 3 April 2016

Mindset: Fixed or Growth - Part 2

I have been thinking a lot about this concept of mindset the last few weeks. I have shred it with some of my teachers and administrators and the more I think about it, the deeper an impact it has on my thinking. This post will focus on a few new ideas. 
  1. Recognizing how many famous people in history were not just some genius with a talent that arrived one day; they each had to work hard to develop their talent. 
  2. We will mention a few of Carol Dweck’s research studies that show how a growth mindset can a have huge positive impact.
  3. One of the issues surrounding this entire conversation is how our feedback to people impacts their performance based on what type of mindset they have. This has huge implications for educators so that we can learn what type of praise and other feedback to give children. It can make the difference in their performance, but more importantly it can change their lives.
  1. People in History
Dweck talks about Thomas Edison, Mozart and Charles Darwin.
Edison did not just invent the light bulb in a snap and on his own. It took 30 well trained scientific assistants, working around the clock and it took lots of separate experiments to make it work. Although he was a genius, he was not always one. His biographer, Paul Israel, describes Edison as a normal boy who experimented a lot, but it was his drive and determination that kept pushing his curiosity to continue experimenting  and looking for new challenges. Darwin’s famous work, “The Origin of Species,” took years of work with lots of teamwork, hundreds of conversations, several drafts and dedicating half of his life before it came to fruition. Mozart worked for more than ten years before he produced any work that became famous. 

2. Let’s explore some of the research
Dweck’s team measured students’ mindsets as they made their transition to middle school. Did they view their intelligence as a fixed trait or something that could grow? She followed this group of students for the next two years. The transition to middle school is hard for everyone; harder work, longer hours, tougher grading policies, etc. All of this occurs while students are coping with their new adolescent bodies and roles. In this study, only students with a fixed mindset saw their grades decline. In fact, the decline occurred right away and then continued to decline over the next two years. The students with the growth mindset saw their grades improve over the two years. Both groups began middle school with identical records, but in two years their mindsets took them in completely opposite directions.

What is more interesting is the responses the students gave in response to their transition. Those with a fixed mindset said things like, “I am the stupidest” or “I suck in math.” Many students covered these feelings by blaming others or their teachers. With the threat of failure looming, students with the growth mindset mobilized their resources for learning . They reported that although they too got overwhelmed, they dug in and did what it took to achieve. The impact that one’s mindset has on one’s self esteem is astonishing.

In another study and another transition, Dweck studies students as they began college. She measured their mindsets and followed them, watching their grades and asking about their study strategies. Once again, the students with the growth mindset had higher grades and even if they did poorly on an individual test, they bounced back on the next ones. When students with a fixed mindset did poorly, they often did not bounce back well.

Dweck also analyzed who these college students studied. The students with the growth mindset took charge of their learning and motivation. Unlike their fixed mindset counterparts who just tried to memorize the information, they looked for themes and underlying principals. They also reviewed their mistakes until they understood them completely. They were studying to learn, not just to ace the test. This is why they earned higher grades; not because they were smarter or had a stronger background in that subject matter.

3. The Danger of Praise
Most parents make the mistake of praising their child’s ability. Over 80% of parents think that is what you should do to foster self confidence. The problem is that people with a fixed mindset are already focused on: Is their ability high enough? Will it look good? Wouldn’t praising ability focus them on it even more? Wouldn’t that tell them that is what we value? Isn’t this promoting fixed mindset?

In a study of hundreds of students, mostly adolescents, they were given a set of ten fairly difficult problems from a nonverbal IQ test. They mostly did well on these and were given praise. They praised some of the students for their ability. They were told: “Wow, you got eight questions right. That’s a really good score. You must be smart at this.” The other group was given praise for their effort. “Wow, you got eight questions right. That’s a really good score. You must have worked really hard.” They were not made to feel they had some special gift, but rather, that they worked hard to succeed. Both groups were exactly the same to begin with, but after the praise, they began to differ. Those who got the ability praise, pushed them into fixed mindset and they showed signs of it. When given a choice, they rejected the more challenging tasks that they could learn from, they didn't want anything that could expose their flaws and call into question their talent, etc. In contrast, the students who got the effort praise wanted more challenging tasks. In fact, 90% of them wanted the more challenging tasks that they could learn from.

After this, they were all given a challenging task. The fixed mindset group didn’t do so well, while the growth mindset group did much better. More than that, the growth mindset group continued to have fun and even enjoyed the most challenging tasks most, while the fixed mindset group  said it wasn't fun anymore.

One final alarming point is that those children in the fixed mindset  were much more likely to lie about their achievement. In fact, over 40% of them did. The children in the study all began at the same point; the difference was ability praise vs. effort praise. Telling the kids that they were smart actually had all of these negative affects on them.

Dweck gives the following strategies to grow your mindset:
  1. Think about your hero. Do you think of this person as someone with extraordinary abilities who achieved with little effort? Now go find the truth. Find out the tremendous effort  that went into their accomplishment - and admire them more.
  2. Think of times other people outdid you and you just assumed they were smarter or more talented. Now consider that they just used better strategies, taught themselves more, practiced harder and worked through obstacles. You can do it too, if you want to.
  3. Are there situations where you feel stupid? Next time you are in one of those situations, get yourself into a growth mindset, think about learning and improvement, not judgement. 
  4. Do you label your kids? This one is the artist and that one is good in math. Next time, remember that despite the praise, you are not helping them. Find a growth mindset type of praise. 


Finally, here is a great TED talk that really enhances the concepts I discussed in this blog post.





Links to Interesting Articles:

Links to Interesting Web Tools:

1. 4 Tips for Using YouTube Videos in Your Classroom



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