What is a growth mindset verse a fixed mindset?

Growth mindset is a theory that came out of research done by Carol Dweck, the idea is that children with a growth mindset know that their skill set is growing, which can lead to working out problems and the willingness to work through the hard problems. This is in contrast with a fixed mindset where children believe their skills are set in stone and that failure means that they have no more skills to help solve the problem.

The first year I started working in a school right away I learned the schools ideals about growth mindset vs fixed, and how to praise a student for ‘using their brain’ not just for a ‘good job’. So pretty much I thought that growth mindset was teaching kids that trying was the goal not just that when you accomplish something you are smart. I would also preface all of that with that I was an AmeriCorps volunteer and had never set foot in a classroom before, and was slightly overwhelmend. However, this idea that kids could learn to learn seemed pretty good for a very untrained person. When our Professor brought up in class last week, the fact that schools and educators alike had been misusing this theory, it brought up all types of questions for me. One of the big ones was, is there a right way to use the theory? In Dweck’s own blog she talks about how even though they have done 20 years of research they are still only just finishing building the foundation stage of building the house. There is so much that need to be done before they can even answer all the questions on the effects of growth mindset.

How was growth mindset theory being missed used in educational settings?

Growth mindset is not just throwing up motivational posters or teaching children that they have the ability to grow their brain. Another way that growth mindset is being miss handled is the connection with the school system as a whole, schools are based on the idea that doing well is getting a good grade or test score, which is a fixed mindset carristic. However if a kiddo is trying and using a growth mindset but still not succeeding in away that schools measure success what does that tell the kid. In an article from The Atlantic, Dweck clarifies the affects of the ‘false growth mindset’, which is when one thinks they have a growth mindset but they either don’t or don’t understand what a growth mindset is. She also goes to say that a lot of the times it is the educators who have these false growth mindsets-

“is that instead of taking this long and difficult journey, where you work on understanding your triggers, working with them, and over time being able to stay in a growth mindset more and more, many educators just said, “Oh yeah, I have a growth mindset” because either they know it’s the right mindset to have or they understood it in a way that made it seem easy.”

Dweck, 2016

“The thing that keeps me up at night is that some educators are turning mindset into the new self-esteem, which is to make kids feel good about any effort they put in, whether they learn or not. But for me the growth mindset is a tool for learning and improvement. It’s not just a vehicle for making children feel good.”

Dweck, 2017

Growth mindsets can be a great tool for learning however I think that if we as educators don’t take the time to really learn what these tools do then we are not helping the kiddos.

What can we do to connect this theory to real classroom interventions in the right way?

References

Dweck, C. (2017, August 10). Growth mindset is on a firm foundation, but we’re still building the house. Retrieved June 18, 2019, from https://mindsetscholarsnetwork.org/growth-mindset-firm-foundation-still-building-house/

Gross-Loh, C. (2016, December 16). Don’t Let Praise Become a Consolation Prize. Retrieved June 18, 2019, from https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/12/how-praise-became-a-consolation-prize/510845/

Hendrick, C. (2019, June 18). Schools love the idea of a growth mindset, but does it work? – Carl Hendrick | Aeon Essays. Retrieved June 18, 2019, from https://aeon.co/essays/schools-love-the-idea-of-a-growth-mindset-but-does-it-work

Macnamara, B. (2019, June 03). Schools are buying ‘growth mindset’ interventions despite scant evidence that they work well. Retrieved June 18, 2019, from http://theconversation.com/schools-are-buying-growth-mindset-interventions-despite-scant-evidence-that-they-work-well-96001

What many in education get wrong about growth mindset. (n.d.). Retrieved June 18, 2019, from https://www.eab.com/daily-briefing/2018/05/07/praising-effort-doesnt-work-for-building-grit-in-teens