Educators search their whole life to figure out what motivates students. With a long, never-ending, search full of trying new techniques and searching for an answer, many conclude that the most motivated and resilient students are not the ones who think they have a lot of innate intelligence, but they believe that their abilities can be developed through their effort and learning. In other words, these students demonstrate a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset. It really matters what students believe about their own intelligence. In a study on 400 students transitioning to the seventh grade, a time where student motivation often decreases, those students who believed in fixed intelligence did most poorly across this difficult transition. They showed lower motivation, less resilience in the face of difficulty, and lower grades over the next two years. The students who believed their intelligence could be developed showed increasing grades and more motivation. This difference between the students had to do entirely with their mindset and how they viewed their surroundings, themselves and what they were capable of.
Overall, a fixed mindset comes with “rules”. The rules that the student with a fixed mindset follows are: don’t make mistakes, don’t work hard, and if you make mistakes, don’t try to repair them. Students think that mistakes mean they lack ability and that they aren’t smart enough in that particular subject. These students believe that anything less than a perfect performance shows inadequacy and that they their performance can never recover. Students believe that if they have to work hard on their schoolwork, it is a signal that they are not smart enough. All in all, their effort was a sign of their limited ability. This is not a good belief to have because it is virtually impossible to do anything worthwhile without sustained effort. Finally, students with a fixed mindset believe that setbacks indicate a lack of ability and that this is permanent. It seems like having a fixed mindset is detrimental to the student’s achievement, growth, and learning capability.
The growth mindset comes with three more rules that help students reach their goal. These are: take on challenges, work hard, and confront your deficiencies and correct them. Students with a growth mindset don’t waste their time looking smart on tasks that offer them nothing else, they want tasks that stretch their abilities and teach them many new things. They also believe that effort enhances ability and that the harder they work on something, the better they will be at it; success was not inherent but rather something they had to work hard for. Finally, students with a growth mindset are eager to work on their deficiencies and deal with them. If they do poorly on a test, they might be disappointed however; they will study harder and try different strategies next time to improve.
What can educators do to foster a growth mindset in their students?
By fostering a growth mindset, I believe students will feel more motivated in class because they want to take part in the learning process and reach their goals. Often the messages we give our students has an effect on whether they adopt a fixed or growth mindset within the classroom. When students receive intelligence praise from their teachers, they adopt a fixed mindset; they reject challenging tasks they could learn from and instead select tasks that make them look smart. Students who are praised for their effort by their teachers entered into a growth mindset. They wanted a challenge, maintained their confidence and enjoyment despite difficulties, and they ended up performing much better on tasks. Overall, it was found that praising the student’s process which included their effort, strategies, concentration, choices, and persistence, actually helped students remain motivated, confident, and effective. It is important as educators to teach our students to have a growth mindset. Simply enough, by teaching students that their brains form new connections every time they learn, and that over time they can become smarter; students become excited that they can influence their own brains and outperform students who are not taught this. It’s important as educators to promote a growth mindset within the classroom and to help students seek learning opportunities and foster a love for learning.
Dweck, C.S. (2007). Boosting achievement with messages that motivate. Education Canada, 47(2), 6-10.