What is a growth mindset?

Growth mindset is a term coined by Carol Dweck, researcher and professor of psychology at Stanford University. Simply put, a person with a growth mindset believes that things like talent and ability can be developed and improved upon. The opposite is a fixed mindset. People with a fixed mindset believe that talent and ability are fixed traits and that you are either born good at something or you’re not.

Students with a growth mindset tend to embrace challenges, persevere when faced with an obstacle, see effort as a path to getting better, learn from failure, and are inspired by the success of others. On the other hand, students with a fixed mindset avoid challenges, give up when faced with an obstacle, see effort as pointless, ignore feedback, don’t learn from mistakes, and feel threatened by the success of others.

Growth mindset is a spectrum

While these definitions are very straightforward, the truth is that a person doesn’t either have a growth mindset or a fixed mindset. We are a mixture of both. We may find it easier to have a growth mindset in some situations or we may find that certain situations or subjects (like math) can trigger us into fixed mindset thinking.

It’s important for us as teachers to bring an awareness of the mindsets to our students so they can identify when they are stuck in fixed mindset thinking and find ways to move into growth mindset thinking.

Keys to cultivating the right mindset

According to Dweck’s research, anyone can have the right mindset by doing three important things. First, it takes hard work and effort. Second, applying different strategies when the first strategy doesn’t work. And lastly, getting help from others. You can explicitly teach your students these three keys.

Make sure to use the right kind of praise.  Praise students on effort, not ability.

► Instead of “Great job,” say “You worked really hard and it shows.”

► Instead of “You got it,” say “I like the way you kept trying different strategies until you got the answer.”

3 Growth mindset activities

Students need to know that learning takes effort and hard work. I tell my students that if something is easy, that means they already know it. Learning is supposed to be hard and it takes time.

1. Dusty the Dog

To give students a concrete example of this, I like to introduce them to a character called Dusty the Dog by reading a short book about not giving up called Dusty Shakes It Up. You can get a free mini book by signing up here.

In this book, Dusty struggles to learn something new and in the process learns that when things are hard, it’s important to keep trying, use new strategies, and never give up.

2. Growth mindset vs. fixed mindset language

The positive or negative self-talk that students tell themselves throughout the day can have a big impact on learning and engagement. Research shows that positive affirmations make a difference for students (and adults).

You can present students with various phrases and have them decide which category each phrase belongs in. For the fixed mindset phrases, you can have students rewrite them using growth mindset language.

Here are a few examples:

► “I give up.” . . . “I will try.”

► “I can’t do this.” . . . “This will take hard work and time for me to learn.”

► “I never get it right.” . . . “Mistakes help me learn new things.”