Developing Growth Mindsets

Principles and Practices for Maximizing Students' Potential

Donna Wilson, Marcus Conyers

• Publisher: ASCD
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781416629177
• Topic: Bildung
• Subtopic: Lehrmethoden

Human beings have tremendous potential to acquire new knowledge, develop new skills, and improve their brains throughout life. By explicitly teaching learners about brain plasticity and malleable intelligence (the idea that they can become functionally smarter through effort) and by modeling and teaching specific learning strategies, teachers can help students experience higher levels of success as they develop a growth mindset.

Discovering that learning changes their brains helps students develop this growth mindset—the belief that they can improve their knowledge and skills through the use of learning strategies and with guidance and support from teachers, coaches, and mentors.

Donna Wilson and Marcus Conyers share strategies and techniques for developing growth mindsets based on their BrainSMART® program for bridging the science of learning to the practice of teaching and elaborate on their seven principles for developing and sustaining growth mindsets:

* Understand the mindsets.
* Keep plasticity front of mind.
* Learn with practical optimism.
* Set growth goals.
* Get the feedback needed.
* Improve methods.
* Focus on progress, not perfection.

By maintaining a growth mindset about your students' learning potential and applying learning strategies and techniques like those shared in this book, you can guide your students to continually develop a growth mindset—and experience a positive, upward learning spiral of success!

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Chapter 1

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Growth and Fixed Mindsets in Education

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Growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts, your strategies, and help from others.

—Carol Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (2016a, p. 7)

Principle 1: Understand the mindsets so that awareness is maintained with regard to which mindset one is engaged in and what impact it has on motivation and performance.

Dweck (2019) identifies the distinction between a fixed mindset—the belief that intellectual abilities are static and largely unchangeable—and a growth mindset—a belief that intellectual abilities are malleable and can be improved with learning through the use of strategies, practice, and effort. Her work demonstrates that whatever type of mindset individuals adopt can have a major impact on their life across a variety of contexts—in school, with family and friends, and in the workplace. A growth mindset provides students with the motivation to succeed academically, since it allows them to see a correlation between their learning efforts, use of effective strategies, and results.

According to Dweck's conceptualization of these terms, people with a fixed mindset view setbacks—like getting a bad grade or losing a tournament—as failure. Having to work hard to achieve a goal is a sign that they are not smart or talented enough to succeed. In other words, "People with a fixed mindset expect ability to show up on its own, before any learning takes place" (2016a, p. 24). Her research suggests that this mindset—which holds that people have a fixed personality, moral character, and level of intelligence—may have a damaging effect on the achievements of both adults and children. People who regard talent as innate typically believe that working hard is a waste of time. Why work hard if you can't improve? Thus, a fixed mindset may prevent individuals from achieving their potential in life—or even acknowledging what their true potential might be. Recasting a familiar phrase about the power of effort and determination, Dweck suggests that people with a fixed mindset would finish the saying "If at first you don't succeed" with "you probably don't have the ability" (pp. 9–10).

People with a growth mindset, on the other hand, are more likely to push themselves to learn new things and keep trying until they achieve their goals, since they are more confident that their efforts will lead to success. As Dweck writes, "Important achievements require a clear focus, all-out effort, and a bottomless trunkful of strategies" (2016a, p. 67). Our aim in this text is to provide that trunkful of strategies and techniques derived from our extensive work supporting teachers with practical, evidence-based methods for guiding students to apply a growth mindset, use effective learning strategies, and persist even when learning gets tough.

Dweck identified five contexts in which mindset makes a crucial difference in learning behaviors: challenges, obstacles, effort, criticism, and the success of others. Figure 1.1 (2016a, p. 263) contrasts various learning behaviors across these contexts.

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Figure 1.1. Growth Mindset Versus Fixed Mindset

Contexts: Challenges

Growth Mindset: Faces challenges

Fixed Mindset: Avoids challenges

* * *

Contexts: Obstacles

Growth Mindset: Keeps going when the going gets tough

Fixed Mindset: Gives up easily and becomes defensive

* * *

Contexts: Effort

Growth Mindset: Sees effort as essential for achieving mastery

Fixed Mindset: Sees effort as pointless

* * *

Contexts: Criticism

Growth Mindset: Actively learns from negative but useful feedback

Fixed Mindset: Ignores negative but useful feedback

* * *

Contexts: Success of others

Growth Mindset: Learns from and is inspired by the success of others

Fixed Mindset: Is threatened by the success of others

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Research suggests that mindsets and resultant learning behaviors have consequences on academic results. Over time, "students who have a growth mindset outperform students who hold a fixed mindset on a variety of outcomes" (PERTS, n.d., p. 6). This is especially true in the face of difficulty (Claro, Paunesku, & Dweck, 2016; Romero, Master, Paunesku, Dweck, & Gross, 2014; Yeager & Dweck, 2012). In 2019, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) released its 2018 study results based on a triennial survey of 15-year-old students around the world. For the first time, the PISA study included a section designed to examine mindsets and their possible relationship to student performance. Some of the findings reported were:

Holding a growth mindset is positively related to better academic performance in almost every education system. This is especially true for 15-year-old students in the United States. Students who disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement, "Your intelligence is something about you that you can't change very much" scored 58 points higher in reading that students who agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, after accounting for students' and schools' socioeconomic profile (OECD average: 32 score points higher). (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2019)

In a countrywide initiative with data on the academic performance of 10th graders in Chile, Stanford researchers found that "at every socioeconomic level, those who hold more of a growth mindset consistently outperform those who do not—even after holding constant a panoply of socioeconomic and attitudinal factors" (Claro, Paunesku, & Dweck, 2016, p. 4). In another study with a focus on teenagers, students who received growth mindset training (compared to a matched control group who received other lessons) showed significant gains on measures of math and verbal achievement. Additionally, the researchers found that girls who received the growth mindset training reduced the gender gap in mathematics (Good, Aronson, & Inzlicht, 2003).

In a study with college students, Joshua Aronson and colleagues (2002) found that the growth mindset group showed significantly higher grades than students in control groups. The researchers reported that this finding was largely due to the fact that African American students in the growth mindset group showed a sharp increase in the value they placed on schooling and their enjoyment of academic work.

For those who wish to read more about mindsets across various life contexts, see Dweck's book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (2016a). To keep abreast of ongoing research on mindsets, check out the Mindset Scholars Network at https://mindsetscholarsnetwork.org. For a short TEDx video of Dwek offering a brief introduction, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-swZaKN2Ic.

Mindsets in the Classroom

Debra's Story

Developing growth mindsets and teaching students effective methods for gaining knowledge and skills go hand in hand and are central aspects of our work in teacher education. One teacher who learned with us, Debra, taught her 2nd grade students that learning changes the brain and described how effort and good strategies would help them become smarter. Like Carol, the middle school teacher who was quoted in the Introduction, Debra was one of several teachers who participated in an ethnographic study (Germuth, 2012) exploring the impact of brain-based graduate study on their teaching experience. (The names of all teachers included in this study were changed to protect their privacy and that of their students.)

Among the experiences Debra shared was how she explicitly taught students strategies that could help them develop their reading skills. The result of these efforts was what she called "an explosion of growth" in her students' academic achievement in reading in just a matter of months. She attributed this growth to many specific teaching strategies she used in her classroom, such as "thinking stems," where students were asked to indicate what they wondered, inferred, or thought would occur in a particular story they were reading. As part of this process, students blogged about their thoughts, and a network of educators across the world commented on what students wrote. Not only did Debra's students find this activity meaningful and motivating, but it also made them better readers. Of her 23 students, all but five were reading above grade level after she began to use these methods. Over a three-month period, on average the students made gains of five months in their reading levels, representing advances she had not seen her students make previously (Germuth, 2012).

What a Growth Mindset Isn't

Teachers such as Debra know well that having a growth mindset doesn't automatically mean students will achieve academic growth. Even if students believe they can develop their intellectual abilities, without putting in the work and applying strategies to support improvement, a growth mindset may yield limited results. Dweck identifies the problem of having a "false" growth mindset, which occurs when one subscribes to the concept that people can develop their abilities without fully embracing all the components that make those advances possible. Avoid associating the following actions and attributes with a growth mindset:

• Telling students they can "do anything." A growth mindset means you are receptive to the idea that you can develop your knowledge and skills, but not every goal is achievable by every person. Telling students they can do whatever they try to do without methods for getting there may give them a false sense that success is easy—and ultimately set them up for failure. A teacher's role is to show students how to develop the necessary skills and access the resources that will be useful to them as they pursue a specific goal. That will be far more effective and meaningful to them than empty platitudes that don't convey what it takes to develop and grow throughout life.
• Having positive qualities such as open-mindedness or flexibility. While Dweck observes that these are positive traits, educators should understand that being open-minded is not the same thing as putting in the effort to develop their own abilities and those of their students.
• Praising effort without linking to other strategies necessary for success. While it's true that hard work is important to learning, praising someone's effort without tying it to other learning strategies—like focus and perseverance—does not reinforce those necessary connections. The best way for teachers to give feedback is to praise students for hard work and link the praise to the outcome and the strategies they used to get there (Dweck, 2016a, 2016b).

Shifting to a Growth Mindset

Students with a fixed mindset may be more likely to struggle academically in comparison to their counterparts who have a growth mindset. Dweck confirmed this connection in a study she conducted that followed students for two years as they transitioned from elementary school to middle school. Students were asked prior to the study whether they believed intelligence was a fixed trait or something they could develop. Though students in both groups had similar academic records at the start of the study, those with a fixed mindset showed a steady decline in grades over the next two years, while those with a growth mindset did not. Because the transition to middle school is a challenging and stressful time, those with a fixed mindset often feel overwhelmed and consider themselves unequipped for achieving academic success. "With the threat of failure looming," Dweck writes, "students with the growth mindset instead mobilized their resources for learning. They told us that they, too, sometimes felt overwhelmed, but their response was to dig in and do what it takes" (2016a, pp. 57–58).

Motivated by a growth mindset, these students were able to put forth greater effort in the face of academic challenges. Teachers who espouse a growth mindset are in a position to help students increase their motivation, put forth the hard work, and apply useful learning strategies that will lead them to greater academic success. Motivation and effort are two critical components that can drive anyone, including low-performing students, to learn and achieve.

We've worked with many teachers who exhibit a growth mindset through their love of learning. Georgia teacher Melissa Smith shares her commitment to lifelong learning with her students with personal examples, such as her karate lessons, certification in yoga, and research on nutrition and health. Melissa states:

I share my desire to try and do new things. Sometimes I ask students to teach me things they know, like dance moves or an art skill. I practice what I preach, and they can see that as they watch me try things and think aloud, so they see the process. Sometimes I succeed easily, and at other times, they see frustration, diligence, and starting over …. I hope that by not just explaining, but by modeling, I can bring light to the fact that all learning is helpful and can impact your life positively by keeping your brain cells active and buzzing with healthy engagement—all while teaching you to be persistent, creative, diligent, and flexible. These skills not only make you employable and healthy, but also resilient and happy. (Personal correspondence, April 2, 2019)

Along the same lines, Donna observed growth mindsets at work in schools in a parish (county) in the Mississippi Delta: After conducting a series of workshops there, I had the pleasure of going into classrooms to observe teachers presenting and facilitating a lesson using knowledge and strategies shared in the workshops. I was amazed and inspired to see every teacher's unique skill as they each shared some of what they had learned from our time together. Most applications were passionate, innovative, and effective at engaging students to learn.

Metacognition and Mindset

One way to assess your understanding of mindsets is to use the tool of metacognition, which we define as "thinking about one's thinking with the goal of enhancing learning" (Wilson & Conyers, 2016a, p. 8). Using this essential tool is sometimes understood as taking a step back to observe your thoughts and actions. An important aspect of metacognition is self-awareness, which involves being conscious of various aspects of yourself, including beliefs, emotions, self-talk, and behaviors (see Figure 1.2).

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Figure 1.2. Being Aware of Our Mindsets

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By becoming aware of a fixed mindset when you are confronted with a challenge, it is possible to begin putting in the necessary effort, identifying and applying useful strategies, and persevering to reach your goals. This progression is illustrated by Donna's story about starting yoga, which we shared in the Introduction. Without self-awareness, a more likely response is to react passively. For example, she might have quit yoga early on, thinking that she had waited too long and was just too uncoordinated and inflexible to learn it. She would have given up on herself and missed the opportunity for greater well-being. Instead, by being self-aware, when she noticed that she was saying things to herself like "I just can't do this" or "I'm too old to try. Why should I even try to learn it?," she recognized that a fixed mindset had been triggered, and she consciously set out to apply a growth mindset and commit to the work necessary to con...