“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”(Dweck, 2016, p.7)
Carol Dweck’s theory of growth mindset has been welcomed by educators and parents alike. Dweck (2019) identifies two conceptual mindsets, fixed and growth, that largely define how we view our life, our work and our relationships. A fixed mindset indicates the belief that our intellectual abilities are ‘fixed’, or unchangeable as we go through our lives. A growth mindset, on the other hand, is the belief that our intellectual abilities can ‘grow’, improve as we learn new things throughout our lives. Let’s look at these in more detail!
Fixed Mindset
Dweck (2016) argues people with a fixed mindset view setbacks, such as getting a bad grade on a test, or being demoted at a job, as failure. “People with a fixed mindset expect ability to show up on its own, before any learning takes place” (Dweck, 2016, p. 24). If a person has to work hard to achieve something it means that they are not ‘smart enough’ or ‘talented enough’. People with a fixed mindset consider talent an innate ability, therefore, they view working hard as a ‘waste of time’ since a person cannot improve.
Growth Mindset
A growth mindset provides people with the motivation to succeed, because they believe that our intelligence is malleable and can grow over time. People with a growth mindset can see the correlation between their efforts to improve and the results they achieve, and they will keep trying until they are successful. They are confident that their efforts will be fruitful. As Dweck writes, “Important achievements require a clear focus, all-out effort, and a bottomless trunkful of strategies” (Dweck, 2016, p. 67).
Fostering a Growth Mindset At School
A growth mindset gives our students the motivation to succeed academically, because it allows them to see a correlation between their learning efforts, the use of effective strategies, and the results (Wilson, 2020). The first step at schools is to teach the students about the benefits of having a growth mindset and the ways to become a person with a growth mindset. Teachers can use specific materials that have been developed regarding this topic, but they also need to model having a growth mindset! Let our students see that we experience challenges, but we are motivated to overcome them through sustained effort (and the use of problem solving and other strategies). Here are a few tips for teachers to foster the development of growth mindsets:
- Help students increase their motivation
- Teach learning strategies
- Teach thinking skills
- Link praise to a learning task or a strategy
- Teach students how to find and access useful resources
“You can do anything” is a false growth mindset
Dweck (2019) identifies the problem of having a “false” growth mindset. This happens when we believe in the concept of a growth mindset, but we do not fully embrace all the components that make intellectual improvement possible, such as goal-setting and perseverance.
Praising students by telling them that they can “do anything”, without linking the praise to strategies necessary for success, gives students the false idea that success and achievement are easy and effortless (Wilson, 2020). The best way for teachers to praise students for their hard work and effort is to link the praise to the outcome and the strategies they used to get to their goal (Dweck, 2016).
References:
Dweck, C. S. (2016). Mindset: The new psychology of success (updated ed.). New York: Ballantine.
Dweck, C. S. (2019). The choice to make a difference. Perspective in Psychological Science, 14(1), 21–15.
Wilson, D., & Conyers, M. (2020). Developing Growth Mindsets. Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD).