At what point in life do we stop dreaming about the
impossible and all that we can become if we work hard at it? “You can do
anything if you set your mind to it and work hard”, is something that I’m sure
most of my fellow classmates have heard before either from a parent or
inspiring teacher. But somewhere
along the way, some of us forget about shooting for the stars and instead 'stick
to their guns'.
Last week in lecture/seminar we were shown a short YouTube
video concerning the effects of different types of praise and the power
acknowledgements have on children; particularly in their mindsets towards
learning.
The video describes a simple study done by Professor Carol
Dweck, revealing the astonishing effect that praise has on children’s
development. The study took four-hundred grade five students and gave them all
a simple IQ test and on completion the students were given one-of-two verbal praise:
- “Wow, great job! You must be really smart at this!”
- “Wow, great job! You must have worked really hard at this!”
The study went on to show that the students who were praised
on their intelligence alone were far less likely to push themselves to try
harder tests and when given difficult tests would become frustrated and give up
early. On the other hand the students who were praised on their effort in the
testing were 25% more likely to participate in more difficult testing that was
prompted to provide’ great opportunity for the students to learn and grow’. When
faced with more difficult challenges these students tended to work harder,
longer and seemed to enjoy doing the work more as well. I think it’s remarkable how such a small
difference in the prise given to students can make such a huge difference in
their development and even more importantly their willingness to push themselves
to learn more, challenge themselves, and grow.
This brings me back to my original thought, ‘At what point
to we stop pushing ourselves to do more?’
A goal of the new pedagogy is the idea of deep learning.
Described by Hattie (2012), this is “conceptual thinking that allows surface
and deep knowledge to turn into conjectures and concepts upon which to build
new surface and deep understandings” (p. 77). Deep knowledge is almost an
intrinsic/self-motivated achievement. In
order for students to develop self conjectures and to critically think about
what is being learned, they need to want to learn and want to make those
connections. Otherwise all knowledge being taught is face-value and simply a
string of facts to memorize. Hattie’s idea of deep knowledge can be linked quite closely to Dweck’s notion of Growth Mindset.
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Through Dweck’s studies she found that students either have
a Fixed or a Growth Mindset. She describes Growth Mindset as the idea that no
matter how smart you are, you can still learn and always become smarter. On the
other hand students with a Fixed Mindset see intelligence as a fixed trait. For
me it seems that the students with the Growth Mindset are far more likely to achieve
this idea of deep learning and ultimately be more successful in not only schooling
but also to push and self-motivate them throughout life.
So I guess my question has changed. No longer do I wonder
when it is that the student decides to stop pushing themselves, but how can I
as a teacher implement the idea of Growth Mindset and motivate my students to
have the confidence to push their boundaries to grow… either by using ‘effort’ encouraging
praise or other concepts.
Till next time,
Keep Bloggin'!
Till next time,
Keep Bloggin'!
