"Growth" vs. "Fixed" Minds

In the video podcast ""Growth" vs. "Fixed" Minds," Carol Dwech discusses the two mindsets held by students. These two mindsets are growth and fixed. The student with a fixed mindset believes that basic intelligence is a fixed trade. Before attempting an assignment, the student is overly worried about if he/she will look smart compared to other students. These students will also choose activities based solely on if their intelligence will be shown. The second mindset, growth, involves increasing a student's intellectual skill and applying it to their studies. These students believe that intelligence is something that is developed through studing, passion, and education.

Dwech conducted an experiment where a group of students attended an eight session workshop. Half of the students were sent to the workshop that discussed study skills and growth while the other half were sent to a workshop that only covered study skills. The students who attended the first workshop learned that the brain is a muscle that needs to be strengthened and also that they ccan sharpen their skills by practicing. The students in the second group learned about study skills but were not motivated to put the skills they learned into action. The students who learned both growth and study skills saw a rebound in grades, while the others students' grades continued to decline. The teachers of these students could easily pick out the students that attended the growth workshops and those who did not. This experiment was also used to determine if the growth mindset could influence the effectiveness of race car drivers.

I feel that this podcast challenges me to actively motivate my students when I am in the classroom. Many teachers simply require that students memorize the material taught and do not stress the importance of application and critical thinking. This will ultimately help the student increase their intelligence and develop a desire to build on their newly acquired knowledge and skills.