Brainology: Transforming Students Motivation To Learn

In the article “The Perils and Promises of Praise” the author, Carol S. Dweck, discusses the effects of using inherent praising on students. Dweck, a psychologist, conducted studies and research that led to the discovery that if someone praised a student for their intelligence, it would put the student in a fixed-mindset; if you praise the student’s effort, they would be in a growth-mindset. A fixed-mindset is created in someone’s head when they are praised on their intelligence. People with fixed-mindsets believe that they are intelligent enough to where they should not put effort in anything else because if they're smart enough then they don’t need to try. People with growth-mindset believe in working hard and expanding their intelligence.

I’m going to tell you how student learn these mindsets. In the 90s parents thought the most important thing that you child should have was self-esteem. But were they messed up is that you cant just hand your kids self-esteem. They took a poll among parents and found that 85% of parents thought that it was necessary to “praise” their children’s abilities to boost confidence. Now were going to talk about growth mindset. These students believe that intelligence is something that can be gained through education and effort. I wish in high school that I would of taken it more serious because now I could have had a growth mindset witch would of helped me out a lot in college. Those students have growth mindsets. They believe that you can gain intelligence through learning. Those with a growth mindset had a very straightforward idea of effort. The idea that the harder you work the greater the outcome is and I think that’s true. When these students had a set back in school they simply just study more or differently next time. That was my biggest set back in high school. Many bright students find grade school fairly easy and get right through it. But later on in life like in college they struggle. They don’t want to put the time into something and feel dumb when they get a bad grade on it. That’s bad because you should never feel dumb about something that you tried your hardest to complete. I hope that this information was helpful

This is important because it’s hard to really see a lot of growth within a time period. In the article, Carol also backs this up with evidence from a controlled experiment. The experiment was focused on the minds of seventh graders and talking to them in a certain way that influenced their mindsets. The seventh graders were split up into two groups and were to work on an eight-session workshop, however, the control group was taught about what a growth mindset is and how it can be applied into their school life. This factor leads to the control group having improved at the end of the semester. This experiment showed that just by knowing about what a growth mindset is and how it could be applied in life, people are more likely to grow more rapidly than people whose minds are fixed on having a limit to their knowledge or skills. This is important because the sooner that kids know how to make their brain think that there are endless possibilities to who they can be or what they can do, the more they are likely to excel in anything that they attempt, not only in school but in their own personal life. This will allow a person with a fixed mindset to be able to change their way of thinking and start to see more about what they can accomplish with their life.

Basically, individuals with a fixed mindset often feel measured by a failure, sometimes permanently. Unfortunately, failed attempts are viewed as a label rather than an opportunity to plan a new path of succes. On the other hand, an individual with a growth mindset views a failed attempt as an opportunity to take action, to confront obstacles, to keep up with their schoolwork, and/or to better manage and organize their time. Growth mindset individuals believe that qualities can be developed, expanded, and eventually result in a successful outcome. A second lesson learned is the power of labels and the stereotype of ability; this lesson is undoubtedly one of the most enlightening. Dweck discovered in one of her studies that, “... ability praise often pushed students right into a fixed mindset, and they showed all the signs of it too. When we gave them a choice, they rejected a challenging new task that they could learn from. They didn’t want to do anything that could expose their flaws and call into question their talent” (72). One’s mindset determines their reaction to labels and stereotypes. An individual with a fixed mindset will settle for a positive label and chose stagnation and permanent inferiority rather than risk losing the label; whereas,

In the article, “The Secret to Raising Smart Kids” by Carol S. Dweck, he states, “The students held hard work in high regard, believing that the more you labored at something, the better you would become at it” (23). What he means by this is that there are students who don’t try in academics or are naturally smart but just lose interest in school. The quote means that students who keep a goal in their mind, the better you will get at it. Dweck also states that “As we had predicted, the students with a growth mindset felt that learning was more important” (23). Again, the quote basically says that students who have a clear mindset on what goal they would like to accomplish, nothing would keep them from learning. Any student can be successful in their own ways, it's just about how they want their mindsets to be. If they have a growth mindset they can accomplish anything if they put themselves to

People believe that in order to be Smart, you have to become Smart, in other hands the brain works like a machine, the more you teach it, the more it learns. Usually students with a Growth Mindset are most likely to Succeed in Society. The changes that should be changed in Schools is that Students should be Congratulated on how hard they’ve worked on an Assignment etc.,“Wow… that’s a really good score, must of Worked hard” (25). The Researcher has Experimented the students with Test to see how they do and how they react to it. College students may pick up this Article to Study for Child Behavior, Counselors may also read this Article to get an ideal on how and why students Fail or Succeed. Schools should complement on how they're doing their work for it can motivate them, “We found that intelligence praise encouraged a fixed mindset more often than did pats on the back for effort” (25). Comparing the Two Articles “Marita’s Bargain” shows how they got their Intelligence unlike this article which states why students Fail or Succeed. After all, the students should be Praised for their efforts and not their

A growth mindset is usually set in middle school but you can change many fixed mindsets by telling them otherwise. The way the author describes what causes a fixed mindset is pretty interesting because I was like this and my grades decreased but now I'm realizing this more. Teachers need to stop praising students “We found that intelligence praise encourages a fixed mindset more often than did pats on the back for effort. Those congratulated for their intelligence, for an example, shield away from a challenging assignment- they wanted an easy one instead”(25) which means teachers need to stop giving students treat because it causes them to do worse in school by making them have a fixed mindset. This would help Anaheim students drastically because that's what many of the students coming from middle school come in with the growth mindset but then get crushed with how hard the work is and then they give

In the feature article “Brainology”, the author, Carol Dweck explains that there are consequences of praising children for their work, they is also different types of mindsets that enable a person’s development. She focuses on two types of mindsets. The first mindset is fixed where a person believes that if she or he is smart, they don’t need to put effort to be successful. The author explains on page 3 of the article that sometimes society encourages this mindset by using words such as smart , intelligent which sometimes creates confidence , however, when the assignment gets difficult then a fixed mindset person loses confidence so they stop working hard to complete the task. The second mindset is when a person believes that working hard to

With regard to the first assumption that Dweck disproves, she states that many teachers believe that praising children for their intelligence “builds their confidence and motivation to learn” (Dweck 34). However, from her point of view, this is a mistake as far as students tend to lose the wish to develop their intelligence and to advance. At the same time, this is connected with the view of many teachers that the intelligence is inherent feature and cannot be developed or improved. However, the author disproves these two ideas by referring to the idea of fixed and growth mindset.

Several individuals go through life either having a fixed mindset or growth mindset. A fixed mindset is when a person thinks they only have a certain amount of intelligent and cannot further themselves in their academics. Although, a growth mindset is when a person is motivated to increase their ability and is open minded to anything that is being taught, absorbing in the information. Carol Dweck’s article, “Brainology: Transforming Students’ Motivation to Learn” explains how intelligent the brain is and how a person can use it to their advantage. “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”, written by Christopher John Francis Boone applies these

One of the most basic beliefs we carry about ourselves, Dweck found in her research, has to do with how we view and inhabit what we consider to be our personality. A “fixed mindset” is that we assumes that our intelligence, character, and creativity are static traits givens which we can’t change in any way, and success is the allegation of that inborn intelligence, an estimate of how those givens measure up against an equally fixed standard; aiming for prosperity and dodging failure becomes a way of claiming the sense of being smart or skilled. A “growth mindset,” on the other hand, emphasis on challenge and sees failure as evidence of unintelligence but as a positive bounce

This could make the student feel like they don’t have to do anything in order to succeed. In Dweck's paper she states that, “ The children praised for their intelligence did not want to learn” (Dweck 3). They would rather go for an easier test and have outstanding grades. It can also be another reason why a student with a fixed mindset doesn’t believe in themselves to succeed. It is when you are exposed to trauma. In Aisha Sultan she describes that a boy had “...had suffered some traumas at home, which showed in his behavior at school” (Sultan). In other words this tells us that issues at home can reflect your actions at school. Sultan also states that very few students would be successful. “Seven would live in poverty, 11 would be non-white, 6 wouldn’t speak English as a first language, 6 wouldn't be reared by their biological parents, one will be homeless, and six would be victims of

A fixed mindset is someone who doesn’t believe that they are intelligent who are poorly motivated. Those who have a fixed mindset are the ones who are motivated poorly by, a parent, relatives, and friends. Dweck quotes “But the biggest mistake was the belief that you could simply hand children self-esteem by telling them how mart and talented they are. Even though this is such an intuitively appealing idea, and even though it was exceedingly well-intentioned, I believe it has disastrous effects. This is an effect of bad motivation and intelligence praise. Intelligence praise causes the person the give up and are not motivated to keep going because they simply don’t belive that they are capable of doing

According to Dweck, Carol S., Ph.D., who wrote the “Mindset Theory,” “People with a fixed mindset believed that their traits are just given.” In other words, a person with a fixed mindset assumes that they cannot learn and do schoolwork. However, people can learn—they just have to believe they can. Diamond I have noticed lately in class you have not been staying on task, and completing your work on time. You have been talking a lot more than usual, and you have not been participating in class. So, I am writing this letter to try to encourage you to strive for more in class. To sum it up, your classroom performance is effected by the beliefs about ourselves. It is time for a change!

As a private tutor and an after-school teacher, I find, for the most part, praising students “intelligence builds their confidence and motivation to learn and students inherent intelligence is the major cause of their achievement in school” (91). In my five years of tutoring I’ve dealt with so many students who restrict themselves by showing there are intelligent and know the answer. They feel if they don’t give the answer people will like them better because “nobody likes a smarty pants” as some of my students have told me. This is an example of a fixed mindset because a fixed mindset mentions that students will be judged if they are smart and no smart as well. Students with this mind-set miss opportunities that would be great for their academic journey and don’t want to make mistakes.