If students and teachers are not developing intellectually each and every day, how are they going to succeed in today’s hands-on, project-based world? Better yet, if teachers aren’t helping students to grow, what are they there for? The importance of the constant presence of growth mindset in education is more important now than perhaps it ever has been—whether students realize it or not.
Promoting Growth Mindset from the Get-go
Much of the success achieved in a classroom is comes as a direct result of teachers who are innovative in their ideas and persistent in their approach. One aspect of modern education that is continually preached nowadays is what you may have heard referred to as a ‘growth mindset.’ Basically, this means that every day and in every lesson or discussion, students should be facing challenges head on and finding new and creative ways to overcome them. When students are met with this exciting new approach to learning on the very first day, you can bet they’ll respond favorably and begin growing for the long haul.
A lot of a student’s willingness to adopt a growth mindset and explore all the ways in which they can benefit from this kind of attitude starts with their teachers. A collective commitment to fostering a growth mindset across the school will do wonders for reinforcing its importance among kids. Some ways that teachers can promote this mindset is to be willing to try new things—with technology at the forefront or without. Teachers should also emphasize the importance of sticking with hard tasks and never giving up. Don’t be afraid to employ the FAIL (First Attempt In Learning) acronym; even if a student didn’t succeed in quite the way they intended, they still learned plenty of important things along the way. Teachers also have the power to always push students to do their best work rather than consistently settling for ‘good enough.’ When students begin to realize that they are growing through the completion of their work, they’ll start believing more in themselves and in their own ability to learn.
Many students enter the classroom already convinced that they are not good enough to fully grasp the more complex math or science concepts they are expected to know. Since they believe that their abilities cannot be changed, this is what’s commonly referred to as a ‘fixed mindset.’ They think that since they’re not good at it and since there’s nothing in it for them, they shouldn’t waste their time trying to improve. As growth mindset advocates will adamantly articulate, however, it is through experiences (failed or successful) that students develop the notion that they are capable of just about anything. Teachers need to be sure that they are communicating to their students that every activity and exercise is intended to benefit their brain. Student input can often help teachers determine nuances that might need to be tweaked for optimal effect, especially once kids have seen it in action. Before you know it, it will be natural for students to respond to failure with constructive optimism!
Encouraging a Growth Mindset in Students
For students to blossom into the future-ready people we know they can be, it often takes a little bit of trying and a lot of retrying. Mistakes are part of the learning experience—and a huge part of learning in 21st century classrooms. The lessons that students learn from mistake making are an overlooked but incredibly valuable part of education. That’s because even if they are not quite at the best result given the talents that they have, they are still growing. By adopting a growth mindset, today’s students can achieve new levels of success that they have never seen before.
It all starts with a simple retooling of discouraging or demoralizing thoughts. For instance, a student might instinctively think to themselves “this is too hard,” because that’s the way they have been conditioned to respond to facing adverse situations in the classroom. Teachers, however, can use this quality in their students and transform that belief into something constructive like “this may take some time and effort, but that’s okay because it will be worth the work.” Or, try getting students to realize that when they think their work is good enough to get them a passing grade, they would benefit from taking a step back and questioning whether or not it really is their best work? Of course, there is always room for improvement and, once kids begin to rethink their assignments automatically without having to be told, they have already begun to grow.
When teachers change their words and the tone in which they deliver them, students will respond and improve their mindset for tackling a specific challenge. There are lots of examples of how to transform a child’s demoralized attitude into an opportunity for growth and it’s only beneficial for teachers to take them whenever possible. There will always be the students who firmly believe that they will never be good enough at math or good enough writers or who don’t realize the importance of STEM subjects to their future, but all they have to do is train their brain to have a little confidence and realize that they can only fail forward. When students are on the verge of giving up, just remind them that they have learned problem-solving strategies to combat the difficulties they are having. And, remember, if Plan A doesn’t work, the alphabet has 25 more letters.
The Role of Teachers in Shaping a Growth Mindset
All right, so we’ve covered the students. It’s just as important, however, that teachers and administrators know how to cultivate a growth mindset in the classroom. And, lucky for them, their task is two-fold. Not only are they often responsible for encouraging and bolstering a growth mindset in their students, they simultaneously are shaping their own growth through careful planning, execution and revision. A good chunk of 21st century educators have collectively arrived at the conclusion that a growth mindset and an innovative approach to education goes a very long way in actively preparing students for the future. They just might be right.
A lot of people—many of whom are students—believe that their success and failure are each based on their natural abilities (or lack thereof). You can probably guess that these students are not exactly willing to try to learn to grow. It often rests in the hands of their teachers, who need to instill in students that they should embrace failure as an opportunity to learn and improve their skills. Teachers need to be careful when it comes to the feedback they give their students as leaning too far to the positive side can translate into complacency, whereas feedback that is too negative can completely discourage and demoralize a young learner. When met with positive reinforcement from their teachers, kids generally respond by developing feelings of empowerment and realize that their actions have the potential to positively impact their education and future.
Once teachers have built and developed their own growth mindset, it will be a lot easier for them to do the same for their students. Perhaps the best way for teachers to encourage a growth mindset in their students is to consistently model it in the classroom day in and day out. Children will pick up on the teacher’s actions and attitudes and this will usually translate to them adopting a similar attitude from day to day. Teachers can and should also take it upon themselves to create the space needed for exploring new ideas. It’s okay for them to try new things, make mistakes and learn from those mistakes, too. And, finally, just as it is for students, feedback is important for building constantly evolving teachers as well. Teachers can invite everyone from students to fellow educators to offer feedback that will help them grow intellectually and creatively, which, in turn, will help their students thrive!
Ways of Promoting a Growth Mindset
There are many ways to tell a student that they are capable of more than what they have shown, but showing is often more effective than telling. As we indicated earlier, one of the best ways to obliterate doubts among children is for teachers to make sure they eliminate the ones they have in themselves early on in the school year—and often throughout the rest of it. When students want to avoid challenges or give up easily, they do so because nobody has bothered to destroy the fixed mindset that they have developed. One of the most effective ways to nip this behavior in the bud and promote student growth is through project-based learning.
Intelligence is just like any other skill in the sense that it can be natural and it can always be developed. The key is getting students to see that every negative reaction they have to a minor failure can be easily transformed into a positive one. For example, if they naturally try to avoid challenges, teachers can steer them toward these challenges so that they get to meet them head on and find a way to overcome them. Or, if they’re questioning that their effort is worth their while, teachers can reaffirm that effort is the pathway to mastery. Even in criticism, there are ways to learn. Rather than ignoring negative feedback, students should be willing to embrace criticism and then apply suggestions to reworking their approach.
A lot of the time, however, student discouragement stems from the consistent success they see their classmates achieve. They feel there is no need to try since they will probably wind up in their shadow anyway. Having a growth mindset, however, means that teachers can help students find lessons and inspiration in the success of others rather than feeling bad about their own abilities. Some of the best ways for teachers to help their students develop a growth mindset can be easily incorporated into routine classroom activities, especially in PBL. It’s up to teachers to build their “growth mindset” culture by leading by example. They should also design classroom activities in a way that will require redoes and rethinking, so that students have a chance to use what they have learned. Further, when in-class work mixes in time for reflection and inquiry, students are better equipped to apply what they have learned. Give it a try sometime!
EdTech and its Role in Growth Mindset
The theory of growth mindset in education is a relatively new one, but seems to make perfect sense. The basic principle of growth mindset theory states that every student has the capabilities—natural or otherwise—needed to excel in the classroom. Its impact on education seems small, but when teachers use this method, the positives in the long-run are multiplied. For students, even something as simple as believing that they can accomplish anything they want to goes a very long way. When it comes to today’s education landscape, some of the non-intellectual skills that students develop, like perseverance and self-motivation end up being some of the most important ones.
It has been proven that, among students, it’s extremely possible to develop intelligence and abilities when they are not naturally occurring. The intelligence component is, of course, important, but it’s other traits that help children to really grow into well-rounded students. Generally, kids firmly believe that they either have an aptitude for something—a subject are or class—or that they simply do not. Some kids enjoy the challenge while others try avoiding them at all costs. A lot of the time, this stems from a more general feeling of discouragement toward the class or subject as a whole. For example, a student may give up on algebraic equations more easily because they have a general weakness when it comes to math. Kids who approach a problem or an entire class for that matter with optimism and confidence tend to outperform those who are lacking self-confidence.
According to a recent report, over 95 percent of teachers stated that technology makes a significant impact in their classrooms. All teachers need to do is expose their students—even briefly—to the concept of growth mindset and it can have a powerful effect on their learning. In many cases, they undergo a transformation in the way they think about their own abilities. EdTech tools actually help in this area of education, too. They provide a way for everything in the classroom to work at scale, which results in a big difference when it comes to how learning happens. When kids can refine their approach with tools that actually excite them and draw them into fine tuning their work, they have grown—and they are better prepared for next year as well as the future.
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