The Power of Growth Mindset
Growth mindset has been one of my favorite topics, so I was happy to see that Angela Duckworth and Carol Dwek’s research holds up after 10 years! After reading “Does Developing a Growth Mindset Help Students Learn” by Daniel T. Willingham, I was inspired to share a few takeaways!
What is Growth Mindset?
Growth mindset is the belief that with effort, dedication and resilience, individuals can continue to develop and improve their skills or abilities. It is a core component of positive psychology, which focuses on helping people reach their fullest potential. This concept counters the traditional “fixed mindset” belief that one’s intelligence or talent is predetermined in a fixed amount. Watch this video to learn more about growth mindset.
3 Tips for Parents to Promote Growth Mindset
In our practice at Emerging, we promote asking “Beautiful Questions” so our students have time to think and discover instead of us TELLING them what to think or feel.
- Encourage students to seek feedback about what went wrong. What went wrong? How do you think you got to this point? What was the turning point?
- Encourage students to analyze these errors and use them as opportunities for learning. Are you wiling to take a few minutes to analyze what didn’t work? Can you trace back to a moment when you could have done something different?
- Encourage students to think of ways they might do things differently when they try again. What is one thing you think that could have been done differently that would have made the biggest difference?
Use The Grit Scale to set a baseline!
One of our core practices at Emerging is to use the GRIT scale by Angela Duckworth. We work with students to evaluate their GRIT scale and encourage them to set goals to improve. Over the past 10 years there has been conflicting information about her research, however, in Daniel T. Willingham’s article, I was delighted to see that the research is consistent with Angela Duckworth’s findings.
Mindset Kit Resource
Additionally, here is another great resource we often suggest families. Check out is this fantastic website with everything you ever wanted to know about Mindset additionally, click here for a free download called “Transforming Education Growth Mindset Toolkit”.
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