The Brain Pixabay
The mind is a powerful thing. We are always hearing about new studies telling us the best way to learn and new strategies to get the most out of our brain. Growth Mindset is one of those new and upcoming strategies that can help us learn.
I first heard about Carol Dweck and her Growth Mindset studies last semester when I was taking Physiology. Our teacher had us do an assignment about having growth mindset versus a closed mindset, and how to change it. We took a quiz and talked about how we planned to use our growth mindset to pass the class. Unfortunately, I believe this class was using the concept of Growth Mindset all wrong. They used it as a way to make the class so much harder than it should have been, and everyone in the class was struggling so much that they ended up giving out about 6 to 8 percentage points of extra credit at the end.
I really like the idea of Growth Mindset, and I believe it can be especially helpful to small children, because it helps everyone get on the same level; whether they are from a good or bad background, and whether or not they have the same resources. I like that this method of teaching lets children know that they are all more than capable of doing whatever they want to do. I think that the closed mindset really does hold a lot of children back in life, especially when they are in sad situations where they hear that they are not good enough, or that they will never have the opportunity to go to college.
Growth Mindset can be helpful to all kinds of people. For me personally, I have always challenged myself in school. I always wanted to get the work done faster, and I ALWAYS had to have an A when I was younger. Unfortunately, while I think that Growth Mindset could be really beneficial, I don't think it is necessarily for everyone when it comes to school. Some people (like myself) are easily stressed, and when a Growth Mindset is applied to a classroom in the wrong way (like the Physiology class I mentioned above), it does not produce a conductive learning environment.
When applied properly, the idea of Growth Mindset can help us to build our self confidence and grow, which is why I believe it would be very beneficial to young people with developing brains. It will give them a "you can do it!" attitude and they will be able to reach their dreams.
I plan to continue to try to use Growth Mindset to help myself learn and achieve my goals. I want to challenge myself to create good blogs in this class, and as the blog for the class suggested, I want to try to vary my writing style when I do my creative writings. I am also applying Growth Mindset to other areas of my life by trying to change my sleeping, eating, and exercising habits to be healthier. I may even apply growth mindset to my hobbies, and challenge myself to create a blog with my vintage glass collection, so that I will find more information on each piece and accumulate it in one place!
Sydney, I hate when classes make things more difficult than they need to be. I have definitely had some classes like that. I was that way too when I was younger. I have lost some of my growth mindset in college because of how much harder everything is. In high school thought I finished things early and was the friend everyone asked for help. I definitely am still doing well in school but I feel like I am more doing it just for the grade and not to learn. I need to work on that. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading about your perspective on the growth mindset. I had never considered the possibility that someone could abuse this concept before, but reading what you said about it has made me consider how it could be used as justification for unreasonable expectations rather than as a tool to help students excel. I agree with you in that I feel that the growth mindset should be considered a tool or a set of tools used to give people the confidence to realize their aspirations. Thank you for your post! It was a pleasure to read it!
ReplyDeleteI agree that growth mindset would really help with children. If adults could get children to have positive attitudes towards challenges when they are young, there is not telling how much growth they will achieve. It is definitely not for every individual, I also agree. It is more of a hit or miss thing. However, when it 'hits' it is very beneficial to that person.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you in a lot of what you said. The way you expressed the fact that growth mindset allows all people and kids from all backgrounds an equal opportunity and chance to learn and grow is essential to allowing our education as a country and as a species grow and evolve to greater heights.
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