Pupil Support Worker Conference
22nd January 2016
Mindsets
Lesley Williams and Laura Clark
Educational Psychology Service
What kind of mindset do you have?
• Take the mindset quiz
• Think about how you would have answered
these questions when you were in school
?
What we’ll be looking at
• Are we born smart or not?
• Is intelligence fixed from birth?
• Do we have ‘built-in’ talents as a baby?
• Or… do talents, abilities and intelligence itself
grow from experience??
1. Born SMART….?
Importance of development
At birth, we can’t WALK or TALK
These abilities don’t pop up overnight….
….. they DEVELOP as we LEARN!!
So, are we born…
Good at maths?
Good at acting?
Good at science?
Good at music?
Was Einstein born a genius?
Was Michael Jordan born slam dunking?
Was Taylor Swift born a singer?
What can we learn about learning
from animals?
Ratty intellect…
Lab rats were placed in 2 different environments:
BORING
EXCITING
Nothing to do in the
cage but eat and sleep
Cage had opportunities
for rats to play and
interact
– No stimulation
– Lots of stimulation
Rat results
After a while, the
stimulated rats were
found to be smarter
than the boring rats.
Their brains were even
HEAVIER than the
boring rats.
What do you think?
Are our abilities
determined from
birth?
Two beliefs about intelligence
Fixed mindset
Believes:
Intelligence is CARVED IN
STONE
Scores in a test
MEASURE POTENTIAL
Intelligent people shouldn’t
have to WORK HARD
Failure reflects a LACK of
INTELLIGENCE
Growth mindset
Believes:
Intelligence is MALLEABLE
Learning requires HARD WORK
and EFFORT
ALL individuals CAN LEARN and
improve
We CANNOT MEASURE a
person’s POTENTIAL
Thinking about mindset
• OBSERVE the mindset you adopt
• You can CHOOSE to adopt a growth
mindset
• When you meet challenges REMIND
yourself about the growth mindset
2: The Brain
Facts about the brain…
• The brain weighs 1,300 – 1,400
grams
• It is mostly made up of water and
makes up about 2% of the body’s
weight
• It uses 20% of the body’s energy
• It is made up of 100 Billion
neurons
• Forming different areas called
Lobes
Frontal
Lobe
Parietal
Lobe
Occipital
Lobe
Temporal
Lobe
The Frontal lobes are used for:
• Emotion
• Reasoning
• Speech
• Motion
• Planning
• Problem solving
• Impulse control
The Parietal lobe is used in:
• Touch
• Pressure
• Temperature
• Pain
The Temporal lobe is used for:
• Hearing
• Memory
The Occipital lobe is used for:
Vision
We use this lobe to
process what we see
All of the lobes, and all their
functions, are important in everyday
life.
The different parts of the brain let us
do things
think things
remember things
Learning helps our neurons GROW.
The more we learn, the more connections they
make.
What about your brain?
• Tell the person next to you about a skill that
you have mastered through practice.
• What about a new skill that you are learning
or would like to learn?
• How could knowing about the brain change
your mindset when you approach a task?
• How could you talk about these examples to
support your pupils’ learning?
In summary…
• The brain is like a muscle that gets stronger and
works better the more it is exercised.
• Too often pupils believe the brain is static,
leading them to think talent and giftedness are
permanent, unchanging personal attributes that
automatically bring later success.
• Every time you work hard, stretch yourself and
learn something new your brain forms new
connections and over time you actually become
smarter.
3: Promoting and Supporting a
Growth Mindset
Goals
Responses
Praise
Different ways people
view failure
Some people view it as a
learning opportunity. They value learning.
While others view it as
confirmation that they are not smart.
Goals:
are the things we aim for
Goals: performance
• Those with a FIXED MINDSET tend to create
PERFORMANCE goals.
• They believe that a person’s POTENTIAL can be
MEASURED. They aim to receive validation from
others.
• Receiving low marks mean that they are not
smart.
• Both success and failure cause ANXIETY.
Goals: learning
• Those with a growth mindset tend to create
LEARNING goals.
• The goal is MASTERY and COMPETENCE.
• Scores and marks reflect how people are doing
NOW and do not measure a person’s potential.
• Creating goals for learning has shown to
INCREASE PERFORMANCE and enjoyment and
decrease negative emotion.
Responses:
are how we react to events
Response: helpless
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Fixed mindset
Unmotivated
Lack of perseverance
Decreased enjoyment
Depressed
Anxious
Responsible for the
setback
• Disengaged and avoid
getting involved with
studying
Response: mastery
• Growth mindset
• View setback as a
challenge
• Try harder
• Look for other ways to
do things
• Factor in many different
points
• Engage with the
problem?
Praise
• People are very sensitive to the messages they
receive about themselves.
• The way we interact with young people can foster
either a growth or a fixed mindset.
• Praise for effort v. praise for ability.
Praising for ability (e.g. talent or
intelligence)
• Praising intelligence makes kids fragile.
• “Wow, you’re really smart!”
• “Look at how well you did on this project. You are so
intelligent!”
• Our tendency to praise gifted children for their
intelligence may actually be detrimental to their
long-term intellectual growth and development.
The Alternative: Praise for effort
• “You must have tried very hard!”
• “ You really studied for your test and your
improvement shows it!”
• “ I like that you took on a challenging project. You’re
sure going to learn a lot.”
• “I love that you kept trying, even when it got
difficult! Good job!”
• “ I like the way you tried all kinds of strategies on
that Maths problem until you got it!”
Praise for effort (cont.)
• Ask questions about their work in a way that admires
and appreciates their efforts and choices and gets
them to reflect on the satisfaction they feel from
working hard.
- “You put so much thought into that essay. How did it
feel to hand it in?
- “That picture has so many beautiful colours. Tell me
about them.
- “I could tell you put in a lot of practice on that piano
piece. How did it feel to perform it?
Praise for effort (cont.)
• For a pupil who worked hard but didn’t do well:
- “I liked the effort you put in, but let’s work together to
identify some new strategies to try next time”
- “We all learn things at a different pace. It may take
more time for you to catch on to this, but if you keep
working as hard as you are, you’ll get it”
- “Everyone learns in a different way. Let’s keep trying
to find the way that works for you”
Providing Feedback
• Instead of focusing on a student’s score on a test or
assignment, provide specific feedback
– Look at mistakes as opportunities to talk with
students about strategies, effort, and their
understanding
– Help students focus on learning as a process rather
than one-time performance
– Provide specific feedback on what kept the student
from succeeding and how he/she can improve
Providing Feedback (cont.)
• Be honest with pupils and then give them the
tools to do better.
– “You scored 3 out of 10 on the reading test. Here’s the
intervention we’re going to do together twice a week to
improve your reading.”
- “You received 2 yellow cards for talking out in class and
disrupting the learning environment. Here are some
strategies for getting the teacher’s attention without
getting in trouble.”
What will I say?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
I’m not good at this
I’m awesome at this
I give up
This is too hard
I can’t make this any better
I just can’t do Maths
I made a mistake
She’s so smart. I’ll never be
that smart
• It’s good enough
• Plan A didn’t work
• What are you missing?
• You’re on the right track
• Try some of the strategies
you’ve learned
• This might take you some
time and effort
• You can always improve so
keep trying
• You need to train your brain in
Maths
• Mistakes help you learn better
• You need to figure out how
she does it so you can try it
• Is it really your best work?
• Good thing the alphabet has
25 more letters!
Lasting change
•
•
•
•
•
•
Use frequent formative feedback
High levels of challenge for every pupil
Explicitly welcome mistakes
Engaging in deliberate practice
Reward effort not attainment
Model a Growth Mindset
Summary
• A growth mindset helps people to be motivated and
to succeed
• A growth mindset can be learnt
• We can foster a growth mindset in others by the type
of feedback we give and by teaching them about the
brain’s huge potential
• Role models give people evidence of the growth
mindset in action
Resources
Websites
• Centre for Confidence and Wellbeing
• Mindsetworks.com
• www.mindsetkit.org/growth-mindset
Book
• “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” by Carol
Dweck