Today, I will be discussing the "Growth Mindset," popularized by psychologist Dr. Carol Dweck, as well as a few criticisms on this educational philosophy.
In short, the Growth Mindset approach to education holds that there are two basic groups of students: students with a fixed mindset and students with a growth mindset. Students with a fixed mindset are students that view intelligence as a fixed trait, and they will only seek problems that will make them look smart. On the other hand, growth mindset students view intelligence as a skill that can be developed, and they see challenges not as a potential failure but as an opportunity to learn. Having done research on these mindsets for a few decades, Carol Dweck in multiple Ted Talks has given numerous examples of applying her advice to foster a growth mindset. This advice usually has the theme of praising effort and persistence rather than skill, with phrases such as "You did really well! You must have tried very hard" being preferable to "You did really well! You must be really smart."
Growth Mindset Motivational Poster: Pinterest
Critics of Dweck's Growth Mindset, such as fellow psychologist Dr. Dave Paunesku and writer Alfie Kohn, state that this approach has the same shortcomings as many other education suggestions: it blames students for failures instead of the system. Growth mindset does little to resolve students' real problems like a troubling home life, an unwelcoming classroom environment, and other systematic problems.
For my own thoughts, I ultimately found the critics of the Growth Mindset unconvincing. Although they did raise thoughtful critiques about the educational system and the problems with putting the blame on students, some of the critics seemed too nebulous to be useful and often included ad hominem attacks on Dweck. I doubt that anyone would unconditionally support the idea that the educational system is perfect, but that doesn't mean that Dweck's research focusing on student attitudes is useless. I enjoyed Dr. Paunesku's commentary, which challenged some of her advice, but not the general conclusions of her research. I am personally a bit more on the side of growth mindset rather than against it.
As a math tutor for children in grade school and high school, it was easy to visualize these mindsets and categorize some of my own students into the two categories. I will conservatively apply some of Dr. Dweck's advice when I am tutoring, because I do think that praising their approach and their persistence will be more beneficial than just a simple "Wow! Good job."
Overall, I am excited to explore this growth mindset approach more as the semester continues.
For now, Vaga-Buon Voyage!
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