CULTURES OF BRILLIANCE, ACADEMIC GENDER GAPS, AND GROWTH MINDSET

Several recent reports provide strong research-based evidence that both 

• societal stereotypes, and 
• the perceptions held by practitioners within the academic disciplines 

are at the culprit of gender gaps across various academic fields.  The perceived traits such as “intellectual brilliance,” being a “genius,” and having “natural talent” are often associated with men and not women. For example, a recent analysis of Google search queries by American parents indicates that queries weighted towards boys involve intelligence while queries weighted towards girls involve appearance. The author of the study, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz writes:

In fact, of all Google searches starting “Is my 2-year-old,” the most common next word is “gifted.” But this question is not asked equally about young boys and young girls. Parents are two and a half times more likely to ask “Is my son gifted?” than “Is my daughter gifted?”

In a recent study Gender stereotypes about intellectual ability emerge early and influence children’s interests, Bian et al. found that at age 5, boys and girls considered themselves “really smart” equally often. However, by age 6, girls tend to avoid games/activities perceived as intended for “really smart” kids. You can also read about this study in this New York Times article, and watch the short description here:

In another study published in Science in 2015, Leslie et al. demonstrate that the way brilliance is viewed in different academic fields correlates with the percentage of women practitioners in that field. You can read the commentary on the paper and watch the description of the research by Dr. Leslie:

Finally, in a recent PLOS ONE article, Storage et al. looked at the frequency of the words “brilliant” and “genius” in over 14 million teaching evaluations on RateMyProfessors.com. The authors write:

Fields in which the words “brilliant” and “genius” were used more frequently on RateMyProfessors.com also had fewer female and African American Ph.D.s. Looking at an earlier stage in students’ educational careers, we found that brilliance-focused fields also had fewer women and African Americans obtaining bachelor’s degrees. These relationships held even when accounting for field-specific averages on standardized mathematics assessments, as well as several competing hypotheses concerning group differences in representation.

Believing some people are “intellectually brilliant,” “geniuses,”or have “natural talent” is contrary to having a growth mindset. In fact, thinking about intelligence as changeable and malleable, rather than stable and fixed reduces stereotype threat. 

Students who adopt growth mindset as their own learning philosophy are less prone to the risk of conforming to societal or disciplinary stereotypes that associate their aptitude or intellectual capacity with gender, race, nationality, previous educational experience, etc. 

Carol Dweck summarized these findings and their association with the growth mindset principles in a short clip available here:

DOES FOCUS ON PERFORMANCE HINDER LEARNING?

Research shows, not surprisingly, that most parents, teachers, and students perceive school as a “performance zone.” In school, as in a performance, students are expected to

• do as well as they can, 
• execute flawlessly on mostly standardized tests that provide one (and only one) correct answer to each question, 
• master the material, and 
• avoid mistakes. 

We pay less attention to the “learning zone” in which

• the goal is to improve, 
• students focus is on what they have not mastered yet, and 
• mistakes are expected.

In the “learning zone,” the mistakes are result of being challenged, rather than the result of a laps of focus and unpreparedness. Eduardo Briceno offers an interesting article on "Transforming Schools from Performance to Learning," i.e. how we all operate in both "performance" and "learning" zones, and how we can improve learning by deliberately (and consciously) alternating between these two zones.

THE LIMITS OF “NATURAL” TALENT: YOU DON’T NEED TO BE A GENIUS TO BECOME MATHEMATICIAN.

Sylvia Serfaty is a prominent French mathematician working on quantum vortexes and Ginzburg-Landau theory. She won the EMS Prize in 2004 and Henri Poincare Prize in 2014. In this video she “explains why you don’t have to be a genius to become a mathematician.”

The Wired Magazine has a more extensive interview with Dr. Serfaty.

Terence Tao, a recipient of Fields Medal and Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics, offers similar insights in his essay “Does one have to be a genius to do maths?” Dr. Tao writes:

Does one have to be a genius to do mathematics? The answer is an emphatic NO.  In order to make good and useful contributions to mathematics, one does need to work hard, learn one’s field well, learn other fields and tools, ask questions, talk to other mathematicians, and think about the “big picture.” And yes, a reasonable amount of intelligence, patience, and maturity is also required. But one does not need some sort of magic “genius gene” that spontaneously generates ex nihilo deep insights, unexpected solutions to problems, or other supernatural abilities.

GROWTH MINDSET IN CSULB COURSE MATERIALS: CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY

Dr. Shahab Derakhshan (in collaboration with general chemistry instructors, Marjan Mohammadi and Andrea Chen), and Dr. Michael Schramm (organic chemistry), Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, CSULB, developed syllabi with extensive growth-minded comments and tips for success. The examples are focused on the “importance of process” in learning, learning from mistakes, and metacognitive learning strategies (without necessarily mentioning the term “metacognition”).  The following are excerpts from their syllabi for CHEM 111A (General Chemistry I) and CHEM 220A (Organic Chemistry I) (with some text omitted and emphasis added).  

GENERAL CHEMISTRY I, CHEM 111A, (Dr. Shahab Derakhshan)

Dear CHEM 111A team:

Please treat this document as a guideline for your pathway to success. I am well aware that many of you are taking this class only because of your degree requirements and some of you may even dislike this subject. I also know that for some of you, some of the topics that are covered in the class will be never used in future life. However, I would like to assure you that we will discuss Chemistry as a tool to strengthen our intellectual ability, problem solving skills and critical thinking. Using Chemistry we will practice to become stronger individuals towards solving real life problems, which may be outside of the scope of Chemistry. I am sure that many of you who don’t like Chemistry now, will change your mind at the end of semester.

This class was traditionally known as one of the most challenging classes at CSULB. However, together with great students such as you and other resources available to assist us (TAs, SI leaders, advisors, etc.) we have successfully turned this challenge into a joyful and rewarding learning experience. My role here is nothing but coaching you during this journey and witnessing your academic growth, for which I will use my best ability. Of course you are the key players and by putting your best effort in the direction that is described in the following, you will be able to score very high and make your coach proud.

Here are some hints. Please read this document carefully and in a positive tone, these are only some advices and regulations that will increase your success. Please don’t treat this document as an enforcement tool to implement some tough/rigid rules. Remember that even when we play games, we obey the rules and still enjoy the experience. 

1)      Most of the students I meet during my office hours tell me that they attend the classes and labs, read the book, work on homework. However, some of them still don’t get the results that they want during the exams. I have noticed that the order of these activities are very important and play a big role on determining the success. The best practice from my point of view is: a) read the textbook before class b) come to the lectures with your questions  c) immediately after the lecture start working on the Mastering Chemistry and activity problems  d) ask for assistance on the questions that you have problem with before the next lecture.  

2) Try to read the material before coming to the class. Reading before the lecture, will help you to identify your weak points that require more focus and attention. I know that it is not easy to keep 100% of our focus during the entire lecture period. But if before the lecture we know our weakness, when it is covered during the lecture we will try to listen more carefully and if we still feel unclear, it is the best opportunity to ask questions. Remember that my explanations during the limited lecture hours are designed in such a way that your knowledge, obtained via your previous reading, will become crystal clear.

3)   My lecture notes, which will be posted before the class will contain a lot of blank areas. You will fill those blanks during the lecture. (I will never provide you with the completed electronic version. If you miss any class this is your responsibility to get them from your friends).

4)   Try to understand the material. We will discuss the materials conceptually and will try to avoid memorizing stuff as much as we can.

5)  There is nothing as a bad question. Don’t be shy. Ask if you need more explanations. I know for fact that the your questions are the same as your classmates’ (and perhaps they don’t even know that). Use all the resources for help. Ask during the lecture, use your office hours, both your TAs’ and mine. Remember your TAs and I are here to help you, so come to us with your questions.

6) […] AVOID GOOGLING THE QUESTIONS!!! The impact of each MC mistake you make in your total final grade is negligible compared to those you may make during the exams. The idea is to learn from our mistakes during our practice so they don’t happen during the tests. Even if this practice seems tedious, which I know it does, do your best and keep saying that practice is the key for any victory.

ORGANIC CHEMISTRY I, CHEM 220A, (Dr. Michael Schramm)

Organic chemistry is a very special subject, unlike anything you’ve studied before. Part chemistry, part physics, part biology, part problem solving. It is very reliant on drawing, thinking in 3D and using logic to solve problems rather than memorizing facts or reactions. It is not a difficult course, it is a different course. It is not impossible, it takes practice and dedication and a attitude that “I can do this.” An attitude that “I’ve heard this is tough” “If I fail I can take this class again” “I’m not good at chemistry” “I’ve never done good in chemistry” “I can drop if I don’t do well” these attitudes will be the ONLY reasons you don’t pass. Upon completion you will have access to a new world of molecules and understand their properties and how they react. You’ll be able to make predictions about new reactions you’ll uncover as you continue to study biology, biochemistry and chemistry. You’ll have a new appreciation of chemistry in your daily life, from paints, dyes, food products, polymers and plastics, liquids, solids, acids and bases. You’ll have a strengthened understanding of reaction thermodynamics and kinetics. You’ll also be able to propose how to make new molecules! You’ll have skills to analyze molecules using spectroscopic tools. You will be able to speak articulately about chemistry and chemical problems and have a deeper appreciation of science and confidence in your abilities to discuss and create using science. You’ll have critical skills needed to understand science you read about in news sources. You’ll have new confidence in your abilities to solve problems and you’ll develop new tools that you can use in other academic areas for success. All of these things you are capable of!

The recipe to do so follows: The best students who embrace the “I can do this” attitude, they make no excuses, they study routinely so that they always try to understand the material that has been presented to them in class. They don’t look for time to study, they set aside time for studying first, and friends and extracurricular activities second. When they don’t understand something they immediately get help by email or office hours. They come to each class understanding what happened in the last class, and thus learning new material continues to become easier and easier, confidence builds and time studying becomes more fulfilling and fun. 

Please open your calendars; Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday, set aside 2 hours of time to study Tuesday’s notes and do Tuesday’s problems. Between Thursday and Monday night, you need to put 5-6 hours of studying in, preferably in several small 2 hours blocks. […] If you get stuck, open the notes, or the text book, try your hardest. Don’t cheat yourself and look in the key, don’t ask a tutor to do your work for you! Show me your work right after class, or in office hours. I can rapidly affirm correct work or point out where you can improve. I won’t tell you you’re wrong! But I’ll show you where you can fix mistakes. Through this process you’ll learn how to do what the best students do, find their own mistakes. Right before exams, briefly review topics you feel good about and heavily review the topics you don’t feel so strong about. […]

What you can expect from me: I will come to every class prepared and energetic with a positive attitude about the material and your efforts to do you best. […] I will work especially closely with students who lack confidence, by helping to correct misconceptions about who can be successful in science (hint: anyone can!). I will be prepared in office hours with my best suggestions to help you move forward. I’ll answer your emails promptly M-F so long as I’m not occupied in other classes or meetings. I’ll give you meaningful and SHORT reading assignments. I will not assign the whole text to read. I’ll present the notes in a clear and logical way; when you study them you’ll also be prepared for the next lecture as well as the quizzes, homework assignments and exams. I will make quiz and exam questions logical, following material from class and assignments. I’ll present SOME questions that are meant to challenge you. I will not insult your intelligence by asking you to recreate what I do in class, I will change and modify the problems we learn in class so that you can grow as a student and find new ways to solve problems. I will not reward memorization. I will reward students who work through tough material to develop skills and logic. I’ll make exams fair, but challenging and fun so that positive minded students don’t feel anxiety about them, but rather feel “i can do this” “I’m looking forward to showing what I know and what I’ve studied. […]

What I expect from you: You will introduce yourself to me in the first two weeks. You’ll set up your calendar with 6-8 hours of study time that you will commit to every week, not just before exams and you will show it to me in office hours in the first three weeks. You’ll have 4 weeks to show me that you purchased, opened and are using your model kit in office hours. These expectations will result in bonus points. If you want them, come get them. You’ll come to class on time. You’ll be prepared for unannounced quizzes which will reward your weekly study - the quizzes will be easy if you study, impossible if you don’t. You will come to office hours for help with any issues you are having in the class or email me. You’ll show me your work after class or in office hours if you would like me to check it or help you improve and do your very best. 

You’ll come to office hours to develop an effective way to study for this course especially if you have a “this is too tough for me attitude.” Together we will develop an “I can” attitude. I expect you to pick up your quizzes and exams on time and review the keys. If you find something you don’t understand, you should come see me right away. I expect you’ll take good notes and do the assigned reading. Students can read the text on their own and I expect that if students want to they will figure out what chapters to read based on the problems I assign. Lecture will not follow the text book. The text however will always support lecture.[…]

All students will be treated equitably and fairly, don’t ask for special treatment because you’re unhappy about what you didn’t accomplish. I will be here all semester to help you succeed, but you have to do your best to prepare for the course and see me during the semester when we can do something about your performance. Everything you need to do well is described in this syllabus - so at the end of the semester, I expect you to show this course and your accomplishments the same respect that I will show you all semester.

You will have 16 weeks to show me your best work to accomplish what you decide you want to. Let’s get started now!

GROWTH MINDSET IN CSULB COURSE MATERIALS: MATHEMATICS & STATISTICS

We are continuing to showcase growth mindset language in the syllabi and course materials developed by CSULB faculty. The examples below are borrowed from the Spring 2017 syllabi by Ladera Barbee, Rebecca Bishop Jen-Mei Chang, Joshua Chesler, Gerald Geier, Andrea Johnson, Florence Newberger, T.R. Rubino-Schaefer, Kagba Suaray, and Truong P. Tran,  Department of Mathematics & Statistics, CSULB.

Dear Student,

I’m looking forward to working with you this semester! I know that Business Calculus has a reputation as being a hard class. It can be challenging and time consuming but if we both work hard and do our best, I believe that this class will be a valuable learning experience for you. I promise you that I will do my best to provide information in a clear and understandable way. I will be here to answer your questions. In turn, I ask you to try your hardest, don’t give up, and ask for help when needed. When you succeed on an assignment, I hope you experience the reward and pride from working hard. If you don’t do as well as you wanted on an assignment, know you are not a failure. Use that non-desirable outcome as a learning experience, make changes, and grow. Here is to a GREAT semester!

Sincerely,

Ladera Barbee

First, you must recognize there is a difference between understanding something and knowing how to do it. For example, if you play basketball, you may understand the job is to score a basket, but you may not have the skill to get the ball through the hoop. In math, you may understand a question, but you may not have the algebraic skill to do the question. In basketball, the only way to get the shooting skill is to shoot lots of baskets; in math, the only way to get the algebraic skill is to do lots of questions. If you can’t do a question at first, look

back at the text, notes, etc, find out how and then repeat it until you can do it completely without help. / Truong Tran

Ready? Let’s get to work! Your brain is not in a fixed state; in fact, it physically grows and develops as you learn. Your job now is to grow your brain! This class is not trying to test to what degree you are a “math person,” or how smart you are. Instead, it’s going to provide resources and strategies, and then help you see how well you can use them to train your brain. / Rebecca Bishop, Gerald Geier, Florence Newberger

We are committed to your success and willing to do anything to ensure that happens. If you are not being successful in the class, please do something or say something right away, don't wait until it's too late! Suggestions and comments are always welcome and strongly encouraged. There is not an one-size-fits-all way to promote learning for everyone, we are always willing to work with students individually to help them learn. All you need to do is ASK! /  Jen-Mei Chang, Joshua Chesler

My Role as Your Instructor. I view my role as instructor as part safari leader and part personal trainer – my job is to guide you safely through the math I love so much. I try to offer opportunities for you to learn, think, try new things, and practice. I try to give you tips and warnings about how not to get hurt – one of the biggest of which, both for this course and in “real” life, is – don’t assume, ASK. If you’re struggling, ASK. If you’re upset with some part of the course, ASK. If you’re upset at me, ASK. I encourage you to reach out to me and to each other whenever you have questions or concerns. / T.R. Rubino-Schaefer

Evaluation: Grades are designed to measure the level of your understanding against the learning objectives I proposed earlier. They are not indicators of your smartness nor goodness of fit (for math); rather, indicators of your efforts by the time the exams are taken. / Jen-Mei Chang

Exams are designed to assess your mastery of core concepts and they are written at a level for you to be successful. Exams take approximately 60 minutes to complete, but you should take your time and you may use the entire class period to work on it. If you find the first exam difficult or have trouble completing it, you may not yet have mastered the material for the exam. You may need to implement alternative study strategies or dedicate more time practicing problems. / Andrea Johnson

For final grades, I do consider improvement over time if you start slow. / Kagba Suaray

The Maintenance / Improvement portion of your grade is based  on  you  maintaining  a  70%  grade  on  each midterm and quiz (assessment). If you receive a score below 70% on a particular assessment, you must show evidence of attending at least two tutoring sessions or office hours for at least one hour each before the next assessment. / Kagba Suaray

Important Administrative Dates. You have until the “last day to withdraw without a W” (the date is given below) to decide if you wish to commit to this course. If you remain enrolled after that date, you are committing to monitor your progress, and make timely adjustments to your study strategies until you find one with which you can succeed and complete the course. Once you commit, do not plan to give up and withdraw. Come see me before it’s too late. We’ll work together to make it happen. / Florence Newberger

GROWTH MINDSET IN CSULB COURSE MATERIALS - BIOLOGY

This is the first post in a series that intends to showcase growth mindset language in the syllabi and course materials developed by our outstanding CSULB faculty. The examples below are borrowed from the Spring 2017 syllabi by Drs. Judy Brusslan, Ashley Carter, and Jesse Dillon, Department of Biological Sciences.

1.       Focus on process and effort

Studies show that people become better writers by writing often. / Dr. Brusslan

In this course, you are developing your writing skills.  A writer needs to convert ideas into written words.  This is a process that requires continual practice, but will be necessary in whatever professional career you choose. / Dr. Brusslan

Assessments are designed to measure the level of your understanding against the learning objectives. They are not indicators of your intelligence; rather, indicators of your efforts in meeting the course objectives. / Dr. Dillon

2.       Mistakes, asking questions, and struggling with the material

To take charge of your own education, you must be willing to read the texts, ask questions, actively engage in discussions, write scientifically and learn to think critically about challenging material. Every mistake you make, every question you ask, and every time you successfully struggle with a concept, your brain grows a little bit stronger and smarter. / Dr. Dillon

Midterm and Final exams will be used assess your learning of core concepts presented in class and readings. They are written at a level for you to be successful, challenging but fair. I understand that not everyone is great at test taking, so I also use other assessments of your understanding. / Dr. Dillon

3.       Opportunity to improve

Extra credit is available for this course after the first three exams by retaking the multiple choice sections at home. After each of the first three exams the multiple choice section will be posted, you may redo the multiple choice section and hand in completed scantron forms on the next class meeting (or to my mailbox by 12:00 the next day for the third exam). These submissions will be graded and all students receiving whatever the highest score is will receive an additional 1% added to their final course grade. You must take this seriously; any students scoring below 60% on the submitted scantron will have 1% deducted instead. / Dr. Carter

BACK TO BASICS

GROWTH MINDSET INTRODUCTION

“ What it is, How it Works, and Why it Matters” by Trevor Ragan

STUDENT’S PERSPECTIVE

“Fullerton College Student, Alan Brantley, shares how learning about growth mindset transformed both his approach to learning and his response to challenge.”

PROFESSOR’S PERSPECTIVE

 “Dr. Angela Little from the University of California Berkley and others introduce the concept of student and instructor “mindsets”.

PERTS - STANFORD UNIVERSITY’S CENTER ON LEARNING MINDSETS

I highly recommend the new materials available on the PERTS (STANFORD UNIVERSITY’S CENTER ON LEARNING MINDSETS) website.

The PERTS blog  ("Can we raise college completion rates by dispelling a myth?" post is particularly worth reading.)

Mindset Meter (quick on-line mindset assessments for students)

The Mindset Kit (several new features – really worth checking…)

MINDSET SCHOLARS NETWORK BLOG

The MINDSET SCHOLARS BLOG has a collection of articles on growth mindset, achievement gap, belonging, college persistence, and other topics.  The two recent posts are particularly worth exploring.  The most recent post comments on the Science Magazine paper, “Gender stereotypes about intellectual ability emerge early and influence children’s interests”.  The authors demonstrate that “six-year-old girls are less likely than boys their age to believe that members of their gender are “really, really smart.” This results in avoidance of specific activities that are thought to be meant for “very smart” people and might be a culprit for gender achievement gap in STEM. The full text of this fascinating paper is available here.

The second post, by Carol Dweck, summarizes growth mindset research, including her own results, as well as the work of others, and meta-analysis of the existing experimental studies. She comments on the efforts to re-analyze existing data, challenges and opportunities of implementation of growth mindset concepts in the classroom, and growth mindset misconceptions among teachers.

There are several other growth mindset – related blogs (all worth exploring):

MINDSET WORKS BLOG

GROWTH MINDSET CATS (if you like cats)

MINDSHIFT BLOG

2017 WITH GROWTH MINDSET

Happy New Year and Welcome to Spring 2017. I wish everyone a year filled with challenging tasks, productive persistence, and growth mindset.

MINDSETWORKS website has a collection of free handouts that will help you and your students to start 2017 with a growth mindset!

EFFECTIVE EFFORT RUBRIC

GROWTH MINDSET FRAMING TOOL

GROWTH MINDSET FEEDBACK TOOL

GROWTH MINDSET INTERVENTIONS

Recent reports suggest that social-psychological interventions (even brief and conducted on-line) can alter the way students think about learning. A good summary of interventions affecting identity and community,  passion and purpose,  grit and growth, and learning strategies can be found here.

Broadly speaking, these interventions embrace the principle that teaching students certain attitudes, beliefs, and skills, such as

• believing that intelligence is malleable 
• taking pride in belonging to their learning community 
• seeing the connection between school and future goals 
• developing metacognitive learning skills

improves their intrinsic motivation, in turn resulting in more effective persistence and stronger academic performance. More importantly this approach equips students with the ability to internalize setbacks as learning opportunities.  As Dweck writes in Mindset

“the passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even (or especially) when it’s not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to thrive during some of the most challenging times in their lives.”

Stanford University recently launched “THE RESILIENCE PROJECT” that “combines personal storytelling, events, programs, and academic skills coaching to motivate and support students as they experience the setbacks that are a normal part of a rigorous education.” The website has several short videos that might be utilized in our teaching and advising:

• A Quick Look at Stories of Resilience 
• "Stanford, I Screwed Up!" Promo 
• Learning from Criticism 
• Switching from Premed to Philosophy 
• Coming from Hanger 
• On Asking Questions in Class 
• On Struggling with Math

GROWTH MINDSET, EDUCATIONAL EQUITY, AND INCLUSIVE EXCELLENCE

In Mindsetsand Equitable Education, Carol Dweck argues that beliefs of students, teachers, and administrators have a profound impact on students’ achievement. Research shows that students’ mindsets affect academic performance. In their recent PNAS paper, Claro, Paunesku and Dweck describe a fascinating analysis of the school performance data of almost 170,000 10^th graders from 2,392 public schools in Chile. They demonstrate that students’ mindset is as powerful a predictor of achievement (measured as a composite of mathematics and language scores) as the previously known socioeconomic factors, such as family income and parents’ education. While fewer students from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds exhibited growth mindset, those who did, and were in the lowest 10^th percentile of family income, achieved standardized test scores comparable to students who came from the top 20^th income percentile but did not demonstrate growth mindset. This is the first report to date showing that growth mindset might potentially temper effects of poverty on academic achievement.
Educators’ mindsetsare equally important - as Dweck states

"People with a growth mind-set don’t put people in categories and expect them to stay there, but people with a fixed mind-set do.

In addition to our GROWTH MINDSET FEEDBACK blogpost, the Standards Based Grading site offers interesting resources, including assessment methods that reflect the growth mindset of the teacher, and promote growth mindset in the student. They assert, "At the end of the day, whatever values we’re trying to promote can only go as far as the way we assess and evaluate the kids."

The cultural shift towards more growth minded classroom cannot happen without changing the institutional mindset. The MindsetWorks site provides a 20-question quiz assessing your school's culture with regard to growth mindset practices. There are examples of entire universities using growth mindset as an institutional paradigm. For example, High Point University made growth mindset a central theme of their strategic plan.

Carole Dweck ends her 2010 article with a message, probably more relevant today than ever:

“Teachers and administrators should send messages that intelligence is fluid, and they need to hear such messages too. They need to keep growing, especially in these challenging and changing times. Thus, they, too, need permission to learn—the freedom to stretch themselves, make mistakes, and try again. Only in growth mind-set cultures, where teachers and administrators are encouraged to fulfill their potential, will they be able to help their students fulfill their potential in schools that are free of bias.”

GROWTH MINDSET - RESOURCES FOR STUDENTS

There are many on-line resources for students on how to establish and sustain growth mindset. The TRAIN UGLY website has a full growth mindset lesson. Some additional resources are embedded below.

INTRODUCTION TO GROWTH MINDSET VS. FIXED MINDSET

BRAIN PLASTICITY

WHY IS STRUGGLE IMPORTANT IN LEARNING ?

FOCUS ON IMPROVEMENT – LEARNING FROM MISTAKES

GROWTH MINDSET FEEDBACK

Almost 10 years ago, Po Brownson published an article in New York Magazine “How Not to Talk to Your Kids.”  Based on early research of Dweck and others, she argued that praising personal traits (such as intelligence) can have detrimental effect on motivation and performance.

There has been growing body of literature underscoring the potential of intentional “wise criticism” on improving students’ performance. For example, Cohen, Yeager, and others have demonstrated that so-called “wise feedback” (i.e. emphasizing teacher’s high standards and belief that students were capable of meeting them”) resulted in improved quality of student’s work and that the improvement was particularly strong for students “who felt more mistrusting of school” (see this link for the full article).

MINDSETKIT has an excellent cycle of lessons on how to encourage growth mindset by praising process rather than the person, embracing challenges and mistakes, and using formative assessment and peer feedback.

There are many on-line resources with practical tips on how to include growth mindset feedback in the classroom (see for example LarryFerlazzo's Blog, the GrowthMindset Feedback Tool, and Teaching Growth Mindset with Carol Dweck.)

GROWTH MINDSET FROM DAY ONE IN SCHOOL

David Gross (UMASS) and Peter Newbury (UCSD) put together a presentation on first class do’s and don't’s in the context of supporting students’ motivation and growth mindset. The key is to use the first lesson to begin establishing academic mindset focused on four key beliefs (see the full reference here):

“I belong in this learning community” (sense of belonging)
“My ability and mastery will growth with my effort” (growth mindset)
“I am able to succeed at this” (self-efficacy)
“This class/work has value for me” (relevance) 

For example, telling students why the course is interesting and worthwhile and that you think they can succeed if they put in the effort, contributes to improved sense of belonging and thus increased motivation. Conversely, telling students that some of them are expected to fail (as the class is traditionally considered difficult) or emphasizing rules and penalties on the first day, contributes to belonging uncertainty, particularly among students who might be unsure about their choices or abilities.

Mindset Kit provides an excellent cycle of lessons on belonging, describing small but important cues in the environment that can promote or hinder belonging in the classroom: Belonging for Educators (13 lessons, 45 minutes to complete).

Other useful resources:
100 Growth Mindset Quotes
Growth Mindset Comparisons for Educators
MindShift (large collection of materials and teaching strategies)
Growth Mindset Lesson Plan (from Khan Academy)
CNSM How to Succeed website

GROWTH MINDSET IN YOUR SYLLABUS

In “Boosting Achievement with Messages that Motivate,” Carol Dweck describes how classroom messages can help in developing growth mindset, thus enhancing student’s motivation and ultimately resulting in greater achievement. The next three posts will discuss practical strategies for encouraging growth mindset in the classroom: how you can use the course structure, syllabus, assessment, feedback, and communication to foster growth mindset.

The syllabus can be used to encourage growth mindset by including messages or policies that focus on incremental development and improvement, put value on hard work and effort as a way to achieve mastery, and provide opportunity for formative feedback. Santa Monica College partners with PERTS Lab at Stanford University and UCLA in a student success initiative called GRIT. Their website offers a rubric intended to assess how your current syllabus encourages growth mindset, several examples of growth mindset and fixed mindset language, and a handout on fostering deep learning by incorporating the principles of growth mindset and grit.

GROWTH MINDSET AND STEREOTYPE THREAT

The Teaching Center website provides wealth of information on the phenomenon of stereotype threat (please see this video with a short explanation of stereotype threat).  The term stereotype threat was originally coined by Claude Steele and Joshua Aronson in the early 1990s, and defined as a

“situational predicament in which people are or feel themselves to be at risk of conforming to stereotypes about their social group.”

Research suggests that stereotype threat reduces the individual’s working memory capacity thus impeding performance (see also an article by Schmader, Johns, and Forbes, An Integrated Process Model of Stereotype Threat Effects on Performance).

Teaching growth mindset reduces stereotype threat (see this powerpoint overview by Beth Fisher, Washington University in St. Louis). For example, Aronson, Fried and Good have demonstrated that teaching African American students that intelligence is malleable improves performance (see Aronson, Fried, and Good full study). In another study Cohen and others demonstrated that brief writing assignment designated to “reaffirm students sense of personal adequacy or self-integrity” improved grades of African American students and reduced the achievement gap.

Dr. Greg Walton, Department of Psychology at Stanford University, has an excellent website with resources on growth mindset, belonging interventions, and stereotype threat.

There are many additional examples of how growth mindset can help reducing stereotype threat:

• An excellent “Belonging for Educators” lesson on mindsetkit 
• A 2-page handout by American Bar Association on how growth mindset reduces implicit bias and stereotype threat
• An article on problems with believing in innate talent (see link here)
• An article in Science Magazine on women in stem (see link here)
• A lecture in stereotype threat by Joshua Aronson

• A lecture on stereotype threat in STEM by Claude Steele

• A panel conversation (Drs. Claude Steele, Carol Dweck, Geoff Cohen, and Deborah Stipek) on “Identity, Motivation, and Stereotype Threat: How do they matter for learning?”