The Growth Mindset
Dr. Carol Dweck: Fixed vs. Growth Mindset
Stanford researcher Dr. Carol Dweck discovered that students who approach life with a “growth mindset” learn faster and more freely than those with a “fixed mindset.”
Students who have a fixed mindset believe they have a fixed amount of talent and intelligence, so they’re afraid that if they have to work hard or make mistakes at something, it means they’re innately bad at it. Those who have a growth mindset, meanwhile, understand that their intelligence and skills grow with practice, so they’re not afraid to try new things. To them, mistakes are just part of the process.
While the fixed mindset says things such as, “I’m bad at math,” “if I ask a question, I’ll look stupid,” and “I should take all the easiest classes so I can get straight A’s,” the growth mindset would say, “I can get better at math with practice,” “asking a question is the only way to learn the answer,” and “I should take reasonably hard classes so I can get smarter.”
Just as most things worth having in life take practice and education to learn, so too a growth mindset can be achieved. Based on comprehensive socio-psychological research, schools are using EduGuide’s nonprofit tools to help their students build a growth mindset and other core skills that can increase test scores, close achievement gaps, and build a college- and career-ready culture.
Delivered through an innovative, interactive online platform, this program teaches the ability to set goals, take tangible steps to achieve them, and have a positive attitude in the face of setbacks. The program is changing common student mantras of “I’m stupid,” “I can’t” and “why bother trying” into “I can learn,” “it’s possible if I work hard” and “even if I fail, I’ll grow.”
The program will be accepting new applicants for the fall of 2014. Sign up for email updates to learn more.
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This is very interesting. I recently read a research that looked at what was different between students from China and US students. The difference were few until 4th-5th grade, and then you see the change. The study targets the way students handle criticism as being the difference. In China, criticism is culturally accepted in their culture as a way to improve one’s self. Children are learned to use it constructively. In the US, we have moved to praising kids and finding the way most politically/socially correct to deal with problems and issues. Students are not taught to handle constructive criticism in a positive manner which leads to the fixed mind set and no grit.