"Growth" vs. "Fixed" Mindset

In the podcast "Growth" vs. "Fixed" Mindset, Dr. Carol Dwech, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, explains that students, or just people in general, that have a "fixed" mindset believe that their basic intelligence is a "fixed" trait. They believe they have a certain amount of knowledge and that's it. When faced with a task or an assignment, one with a fixed mindset focuses primarily on how they will look-will they look 'stupid' or will they look smart. They base their activities on whether or not it will allow their 'smartness' to shine. Contrarily, one with a "growth" mindset believes that their intelligence is not just a fixed trait, that, in fact, they could broaden or expand their knowledge through studying and thinking outside the box.

Dr.Dwech developed an eight session workshop to teach students the growth mindset where one half of the students obtained lessons on study skills and a growth mindset while the other half simply got the study skills session. Students that were exposed to just the study skills were not helped much, at all, in part because they were not taught the optimistic outlook of the growth mindset. Their grades just continued to decline. In the growth mindset session, students were taught that their brains are muscles and it expands and forms new connections every time they learn something new. They also learned that it is okay not to be knowledgeable about everything, that no one would laugh or make fun of them because they didn't know something.

Dr. Dwech also tried this growth mindset on race car drivers. Through her conversations, the drivers were taught that mistakes on inevitable-it's how you view them, learn from them, and what you do with them that allows you to enter the "zone" after making mistakes. It is essential that you know that you will make many mistakes, you have to LEARN from them and keep going. Keep learning new thigs, broaden your intellect.

I think this growth mindset is essential for teachers, and mentors, to have especially because we will be dealing with the youth. Just as Dr. Dwech says, you cannot be a good mentor if you, yourself, do not possess this positive and meaningful mindset. If you limit yourself to the fixed mindset, you will never reach your full potential-ever. You will remain simple-minded. It is good to go out and explore new things knowing that you can, in fact, learn new things even if you make mistakes. It is good to know that you are not born with this one small set of knowledge, your brains stretches every time you learn-and learn as much as you want because it is a very strong muscle!