Believe You Can and You Will!"There is no elevator to success, you have to take the stairs." This quote sums up exactly what having a growth mindset is all about. With a growth mindset, you believe that intelligence can be developed. Rather than being some innate talent or skill, intelligence and success requires hard work, focus, determination, perseverance, and the willingness to learn from others. Having a growth mindset means you pick yourself up after making a mistake, analyze what went wrong, and find ways to improve for next time. Success is a rocky road, but with a growth mindset you can achieve ANYTHING.
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What's the science say? |
In one study, scientists followed hundreds of students making the transition to 7th grade. They found that students with a growth mindset were more motivated to learn and exert effort, and outperformed those with a fixed mindset in math-- a gap that continued to increase over the two year period.
In another study, scientists divided students into two groups for a workshop on the brain and study skills. Half of them, the control group, were taught about the stages of memory; the other half received training in the growth mindset (how the brain grows with learning to make you smarter) and how to apply this idea to their schoolwork. Three times as many students in the growth mindset group showed an increase in effort and engagement compared with the control group. After the training, the control group continued to show declining grades, but the growth-mindset group showed a clear rebound in their grades. In a third study, students who received growth mindset training (compared to matched controls who received other instruction) showed significant increases in both their math and verbal achievement test scores. Moreover, girls who received the growth mindset training narrowed the gender gap in math and science. |