This is the first of a series of articles by Tamra Wade, classroom teacher and the school’s Numeracy Coach. It was originally published in the Newsletter on August 26th, 2016.
Each fortnight, this new section of the newsletter will provide parents with a glimpse at educational research based on neuroscience, how the brain learns and how this knowledge can support the learning of the students at CLG.
TOPIC 1: GROWTH VERSUS FIXED MINDSETS
Dr Carol Dweck, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, studies the mindset of children or how they think about their abilities. She believes that children are similar to adults in that they have one of two possible mindsets – a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.
Kids with a fixed mindsets believe they are ‘smart’ or ‘dumb’, talented at something; painting, music or football, or not. They believe the world is made of some gifted people, whom the rest admire from the sidelines. Alternatively, kids with a growth mindset appreciate that anyone can build themselves into anything they want to be. They recognise that people aren’t ‘smart’ or dumb’, only hard working people who have chosen to take their abilities to the next level.
Dweck’s research shows that students’ beliefs about intelligence play an important role in their school achievement, engagement and happiness.
- We found that students’ mindsets – how they perceive their abilities- played a key role in their motivation and achievement, and we found that if we changed students’ mindsets, we could boost their achievement. Students who believed their intelligence could be developed (a growth mindset) outperformed those who believed their intelligence was fixed (a fixed mindset)” Carol Dweck, 2006
- How can you as a parent help your child to develop a growth mindset?
Tips for promoting a growth mindset in kids: - Help children understand that the brain works like a muscle, that can only grow through hard work, determination and lots and lots of practice.
- Don’t tell students they are smart, gifted or talented, since this implies that they were born with knowledge, and does not encourage growth or effort.
- Let kids know when they demonstrate a growth mindset.
- Praise the process. It’s effort, hard work and practice that allow children to achieve their true potential.
- Don’t praise the results. Test scores and rigid ways of measuring learning and knowledge limit the growth that would otherwise be tapped.
- Embrace failures and mistakes. Children sometimes learn the most when they fail. Let them know that mistakes are a big part of the learning process. There is nothing like the feeling of struggling through a very difficult problem, only to finally break through and solve it! The harder the problem, the more satisfying it is to find the solution.
- Don’t ask your kids what they enjoyed at school today,but rather what did you find challenging? Focus on the effort and mistakes that were made.
Follow the link below to view a video of Carol Dweck:
http://bit.ly/1wBJmZ6
Click here to download a PDF version of the article, with images, as presented in the newsletter
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