You've probably heard the word growth mindset by now, and for most, it is really a belief system rather than a buzzword. The simple truth is, this concept 's been around for decades, but there are still misconceptions in what it means and how to use it in classrooms. So, what exactly is really a growth mindset? And how could it improve teaching and learning in Advanced Placement® (AP®) classrooms?
In accordance with Carol Dweck, a Stanford University psychologist and mcdougal of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, “folks who believe their talents can be developed (through hard work, good strategies, and input from others) have a growth mindset.” Such individuals “tend to achieve significantly more than those with a far more fixed mindset (those who believe their talents are innate gifts).”
Students with a growth mindset are focused on life-long learning; ie, they acknowledge that their innate talents will just take them up to now, are open to learning, and, as the word implies, growing SAT Reading Prep. Such students are more likely to seek challenging work, learn from their mistakes, seek help if they need it, learn from others'experiences, and, ultimately, improve themselves.
Dweck cautions against the normal misconceptions of a growth mindset, eg, “A growth mindset is just about praising and rewarding effort.” On the contrary, learning outcomes matter as much as your time and effort put in. When students engage in learning that rewards not only their effort but their progress, they are more likely to grow while they learn. When students encounter new or complex material and concepts, teachers could emphasize the worthiness of setting goals and persistence. This is where in fact the embracing of productive struggle comes into play.
Productive struggle develops grit and creative thinking skills by challenging students to engage in effortful learning. As a teacher, allowing students to engage in productive struggle means knowing when to step in and offer support and when to stand back to allow them to sort out their challenges.
For students, that means of approaching a brand new or complex problem, encountering a roadblock, and trying new strategies to get at the proper answer is what encourages learning, growth, and eventually, mastery. Students already enrolled in rigorous courses such as AP classes have a significant opportunity to be involved in productive struggle and embrace a growth mindset which will improve outcomes.
Here are a few approaches to promote a growth mindset among your AP students:
1. Explain the Role of Failure
It could sound counterintuitive at first, but encouraging students to embrace failure included in the educational process can help them develop a growth mindset. Unfortunately, many students enter school thinking that their intelligence is fixed or set to plateau at some finite level. So, by helping students see failure as a way to learn valuable lessons toward performing better next time they take on difficult, educators may change their outlook on learning.
By showing students that failure can play a beneficial role inside their academic progress in identifying potential weaknesses and errors, educators can help them overcome any notion that failure is permanent. This type of mental shift in how they view failure will enable students to understand from their mistakes and try harder to succeed next time since they will believe that they can achieve desired results through perseverance. This paradigm shift can help develop, grow, and evolve their intelligence and confidence.
2. Reward the Struggle
Educators can champion a growth mindset by supporting the educational process instead and intentionally facilitating productive struggle constructively and positively inside their classroom. Having high expectations of students, differentiating instruction to challenge individual students predicated on their particular areas of growth, allowing students to grapple with difficult content before stepping in, scaffolding concepts, and offering valuable feedback to students throughout the educational process all play an important role in creating a strong growth mindset.
3. Encourage Unique Learning Styles
Understanding and responding to students'unique learning methods and degree of understanding promotes engagement and encourages independence and confidence in learners. Sharing how students may differ in approaching problems may also help open other students'minds to some other way of thinking. For instance, a teacher could take up a class discussion about how students took different pathways to fix or incorrect answers.
Openly discussing different problem-solving methods will improve students'confidence inside their learning and reduce fears about their abilities. As opposed to rewarding students because of their time used on an issue or project, educators could reward them for persistence and creativity.
Educators could also allow it to be a practice of celebrating the student who spent an important amount of time trying to solve an issue using a particular strategy, realized so it wasn't the proper route, and took an alternative approach without getting discouraged.
4. Build Perseverance With Education Technology
Education technology (EdTech) tools that enhance learning can play an essential role in promoting a growth mindset. There's only so much a student can effectively learn from a textbook or video lecture. Eventually, they're going to own to apply the skill—and with practice comes struggle.
Online tools such as UWorld's Learning Tools for AP® Courses are designed to help students succeed in their rigorous AP courses and offer a user experience built around purposeful practice to comprehend complex subjects fully.
Quality EdTech tools that eliminate gimmicks and clutter help foster a growth mindset. Not even close to distracting students from the duty at hand, they could reinforce the educational value of productive struggle and help students build grit to succeed on challenging pursuits such as AP exams.
To become better learners, AP students should strive to prevent the complacency of intelligence; ie, they need to come to understand that being gifted will just take them up to now, and their efforts and ability to continue learning brings them the remaining way.
Ultimately, for advanced students taking rigorous AP classes, a growth mindset could make most of the difference. As opposed to thinking they will never be capable of meeting the task of a hard AP course (fixed mindset), they will be prepared to embrace the task and endure the productive struggle to succeed (growth mindset).
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