Week 11 Blog

"Growth" vs. "Fixed" Mindsets in Learning

Our assignment for this week was to watch the '"Growth" vs. "Fixed" Mindsets in Learning' video podcast published by Stanford University. In this podcast, the speaker talked about how some students have a 'fixed' mindset about intelligence. They feel that intelligence is a fixed trait. Other students believed in a 'growth' mindset. That their intelligence is built and improved by studying, education and perseverance. Stanford University did a study to see how the growth mindset affected learning.

Half of the students in the study were taught the growth mindset concept and study skills. The other half were just taught study skills. Those that were taught the growth mindset concept flourished. Their grades improved and they were very successful. The other half saw no significant improvement, even though they were taught study skills.

This impacts our world today. There is no way you can be successful without this positive growth mindset. As educators, we should aspire to never stop learning and teach our students to do the same. In an ever-changing world where technology is always expanding and growing, it is essential that we stay on top of things and encourage our students to do so as well.