Dweck Summary

Richard Nisbett reports in his book Intelligence and How to Get It, that they were able to convince academic struggling high school students that intelligence is malleable, it can be changed by hard work ,and that they are in charge of changing how they learn. The results were pleasantly surprising, these students worked harder and earned higher grades. 2

Most people subscribe to the belief that Paul Tough refers to the cognitive hypothesis that suggests that success depends primarily on cognitive skills. They argue that intelligence is measured based on IQ tests which include the ability to recognize letters, words, detect patterns, and calculate. They say that the simplest way to acquire and develop skills is through practicing them continuously. Children should also begin practicing as early as possible to nurture skills. However, in the book titled “How Children Succeed,” Tough introduces the character hypothesis which explains that non–cognitive skills such as self-control, curiosity, self-confidence, conscientiousness, and grit are crucial to achieving success than sheer brainpower or cognitive skills (Tough 49). To justify his argument, he uses research findings from psychologists and neuroscientists. They say that character is developed by encountering with failure and overcoming it. The hidden power of character explains why some children perform well while others fail. However, I say that linking grit and character is pervasive and unfair to kids from poor backgrounds; particularly when the author states that academic proficiency is not a determinant of future success. The big point on Tough’s main arguments is that children succeed with character and not test scores.

The message that Carol Dweck conveys is the power of the words ‘Not Yet’. According yo Dweck, the grade ‘not yet’ gave the students the understanding that they were on a learning curve. After learning about this, Carol Dweck conducted some experiments of her own. She went to a school and gave students a test that was meant to be difficult for them. Students that passed has shown to have a growth mindset, and those who failed had a fixed mindset. Those who failed felt as though their intelligence was put to the ultimate test. When asked what they would do during another complex test, most said that they would just give up and cheat. This proves that once students receive a failing grade, they lose the motivation to learn from their mistakes

Carol Dweck, it was shown that students who were praised for being smart did 20 percent worse, and the students who were praised for their effort did 30 percent better. Therefore the idea behind this is that we should be careful how we praise little kids as it might affect them in a negative way. “Back to School” from American Life presents the idea about how cognitive skills should not be the only thing that is taught in school, due to the fact that characteristics also plays an important role. The kids that are raised in poverty do poor in school, due to all the stress they go through at home. Also kids who had bad experience as a child, face difficulty as an adult. “Who Gets to Graduate?” by Paul Tough contributes the idea of how if students who do poorly in school received extra help, they could be just as successful as the other students who do good. There are programs they are being discovered in order for the students who do poorly to receive help. The idea behind the experiment in this article is that if by portion by portion the students in need of help, receive the help they have been seeking the education gap would be smaller. All of these text are similar in the idea that they all relate to the idea of how students could be

Parents push their children to excel in sports and other activities, so why don’t they push them to excel in academics? Students’ View of Intelligence Can Help Grades, an article by Michelle Trudeau, talks heavily on this topic. Trudeau uses Psychologist Carol Dweck’s very compelling and factual arguments in support of this topic.

In “The Secret to Raising Smart Kids” the author Carol Dweck says “Our society worships talent” (10). This is followed by the statements of one of the central beliefs of the article that there are two different kinds of learners. These two types are said to be those with a fixed mind-set and those with a growth mind-set. Throughout the article many examples are used by the author of studies and or experiments on student with fixed and growth mind sets.

Almost my embarrassment was liberated when I read the book Mindset. Dweck has used some writing moves ethos, logos, and pathos to persuade readers. I myself was feeling excited, enough of patience to continue to find out. I want to see how she did it.

Dweck states that when she was in sixth grade she had a teacher who was so sure that people’s IQ scores told just how smart and trustworthy they were. She said they had one consuming goal- “look smart, don’t look dumb. Who cared about or enjoyed learning when our whole being was at stake every time she gave us a test or called on us in class?” (6). When my

He continues to struggle with the concept that his success in math is not entirely rooted in his natural ability, but has a strong correlation with the effort he puts forth. Furthermore, Dweck appeals to teachers to engage students in attribute retraining to develop an understanding that academic success is acquired through hard work and perseverance. (Seider, 2012, pp. 111-112) Duckworth and Seligman have also found that performance character strengths are “stronger predictors than IQ of middle school students’ academic grades, school attendance, hours spent doing homework, and acceptance into highly competitive schools. (as cited in Seider, 2012, p.3) Therefore, I have discerned an urgent need to cultivate perseverance in my son’s

However, “When success Leads to Failure” focuses heavily on letting kids fail and learn through trial and error. Jessica Lahey states it is better if kids keep the excitement and curiosity alive in academic expenditures; Spirit of inquiry keeps kids eager for knowledge. “The truth—for this parent and so many others—is this: Her child has sacrificed her natural curiosity and love of learning at the altar of achievement… ”(Lahey) From a different vantage point, Dweck states the solution lies with the adults. “Parents and teachers can engender a growth mind-set in children by praising them for their persistence or strategies (rather than for their intelligence)... ” Through proper praise and encouragement from adults, kids will continue to achieve their potential. Proper praise being, praising them for effort instead of

Rosenthal and Jacobson visited an elementary school and gave IQ tests to the students. They randomly selected 20% of the students in the school and labeled these students as having especially high potential for success. At the end of the year, the students were retested. The students who had been labeled as bright had scored significantly better than their peers. Teachers also rated these students with more positive characteristics than other students. The teachers’ high expectations for these students may have meant that they exposed these children to different material, expected more of them, and taught them differently. The children also probably changed their behavior in response to what was expected of them. This allowed, positive expectations

Moreover, Carol S Dweck and her team set out to determine the implications of growth mindset vs fixed mindset individuals. After typifying each student and determining their role in the group, her article “The Secret to Raising Smart Kids” had proposed, “How can the education system implement and teach growth-mindset tactics to teachers, parents and students as a means of increasing student success?” Teaching students that intelligence is malleable is the next step in helping children understand their full potential. To address this point, David Paunesku, Stanford behavioral scientist, created an online method of conducting controlled, randomized experiments. His team enlisted 1,594 students from 13 US high schools, 2% of which were under-performing. The students were divided into two groups, one of which watched a video on

In lesson three, I read a biography on Carol Dweck. A important quote in the biography was “When we started teaching this idea about the mind being malleable, he looked up with tears in his eyes, and he said, 'You mean, I don't have to be dumb?” This is important because it shows that what Carol and her researchers were doing was helping students increase there IQ.

When you tell kids that they are doing something right, even its wrong it completely changes their mindset. They think they are doing everything right and their brain doesn't grow. By struggling and making mistakes it makes our brains grow. Also our intelligence in not based on all the things we do right its about us embracing our mistakes throughout life. Our mindsets are either fixed or growth by how we were taught things and how people praised what did wrong or right. The authors purpose for writing this piece was to inform people on what they are teaching their kids was the wrong way. It was to teach people that they should change the way they teach their kids and make them smarter by praising their mistakes and not on all the things that

Moreover, the authors discuss how American children are not allowed to continuously make mistakes in order to improve and are made to see mistakes as a sign of stupidity. Thus, it has made children or adults to fear failure, for it is believed that mistakes reflect on their capabilities. The passage then transitions to the research with American school children by psychologist Carol Dweck, which is said to have “pinpointed one of the major reasons for the cultural differences that Stevenson and Stigler observed.” In her experiments, she found that children who are commended for their efforts eventually perform better, are more likely to regard mistakes and criticism as useful information that will help them improve, and like what they are learning more than children who are praised by their natural abilities. However, children who are praised for their natural ability focus more on how competent on how they look to other than what they are learning, and become defensive about not doing well or about making mistakes and implants a self-defeating cycle in their minds. Dweck has thus tried to change how Americans view mistakes by changing her students’ perceptions of