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Fixed or Growth Mindset?
Carol Dweck’s research on students’ self-theories and how they affect motivation,
resilience and aspirations.
Carol Dweck’s Self-Theories
Their Role in Motivation, Personality & Development (Psychology Press, 1999)
Carol Dweck has done research over the last 30 years with children and young adults in the USA
She is particularly interested in how students view themselves as learners
Their self-theory is likely to have a major effect on their self-belief, their motivation to learn and their resilience
Carol Dweck’s self-theories
“Intelligence is where you have the capacity to work out something you might not know”
Logan – Y5 Bailey Green Primary School
Carol Dweck’s research into self-theories has shown most people have one of two mindsets
• Fixed Mindset – Entity Learner• Growth Mindset – Incremental
Learner
Self-Theories: Entity(Fixed) v Incremental(Growth)
Incremental (Growth)
I believe that intelligence is not fixed My intelligence can be improved through learning
I thrive on challenge I throw myself into difficult tasks I am self-confident
I have learning goals I like feedback on my performance so I can improve I react to failure
by trying harder I engage in self-monitoring
I can ignore the low aspirations of my peers
About 40% of US students hold an incremental theory of ability
Carol Dweck - Self-Theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality and Development, Psychology Press, 1999
Slide 7
Self-Theories: Entity(Fixed) v Incremental(Growth)
Entity (Fixed)
I believe that intelligence is fixed I was born bright/not very bright
I don’t like challenge I don’t want to risk looking stupid I am vulnerable
I like easy performance goals and being told I’ve done well I react to failure
by switching off and avoiding the issues
I tend to conform to the low aspirations of my peers
Carol Dweck - Self-Theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality and Development, Psychology Press, 1999
About 40% of US students hold an entity theory of abilityEasy praise is not the answer - it makes the situation worse
Slide 8
Do you recognize these traits in students you teach?
Discuss in pairs
OFSTED – outstanding grade descriptor
The pupils acquire knowledge, develop understanding and learn and practise skills exceptionally well.Pupils demonstrate excellent concentration and are rarely off task, even during extended periods without direction from an adult.
They have developed resilience when tackling challenging activities in a range of subjects.Their keenness and commitment to succeed in all aspects of school life and abilities to grasp opportunities to extend and improve their learning are exceptional.
Progress is at least good in each key stage, key subjects and for different groups and is exemplary in some.
The hallmark of successful individuals is that they love learning, they value effort and they persist in the face of obstacles.
In her book “Self-theories”, Carol Dweck presents research that explains why some students (incremental learners) display this growth mindset and others (entity learners) do not.
She also shows how, in the right environment, students can learn to become incremental learners.
What promotes motivation for learning?
Four Beliefs and Four Truths about Ability, Success, Praise and Confidence
(Carol Dweck – Self-Theories, 1999)
What promotes motivation for learning?
You might think that students who were highly skilled would be the ones to relish a challenge and persevere in the face of setbacks. Instead, many of these students are the most worried about failure, and the most likely to question their ability and to wilt when they hit obstacles
(Leggett, 1985)
1. The belief that students with high ability are more likely to display a growth mindset
You might also think that when students succeed, they are emboldened and energized to seek out more challenging tasks. The truth is that success in itself does little to boost students’ desire for challenge or their ability to cope with setbacks. In fact we can see that it can have quite the opposite effect.
(Diener & Dweck, 1978, 1980)
2. The belief that success in school directly fosters a growth mindset
This is a most cherished belief in our society. One can hardly walk down the street without hearing parents telling their children how smart they are. The hope is that such praise will instil confidence and thereby promote a host of desirable qualities. Far from promoting the hoped for qualities, this type of praise can lead students to fear failure, avoid risks, doubt themselves when they fail and cope poorly with setbacks.
(Mueller & Dweck, 1998)
3. The belief that praise, particularly praising a student’s intelligence, encourages mastery-oriented qualities (growth mindset)
In a way, it seems only logical to assume that students who have confidence in their intelligence – who clearly believe they are smart – would have nothing to fear from challenge and would be somehow inoculated against the ravages of failure. But many of the most confident individuals do not want their intelligence too stringently tested, and their high confidence is all too quickly shaken when they are confronted with difficulty.
(Henderson & Dweck, 1990; Dweck & Lin, 1998)
4. The belief that students’ confidence in their intelligence is the key to mastery-oriented qualities (growth mindset)
Task
•Work in pairs or threes.•Take three cards from the envelope: two horses and one card with two jockeys.
•Position the three cards so that each jockey is sitting on horseback.
•Do not fold the cards.
How do you view yourself – an incremental learner (growth mindset) or an entity learner fixed mindset)?
Has your self-theory changed or stayed the same since your school days?
Discuss in pairs or threes for two or three minutes –
Explain why you think you have this self-theory
Teachers are incremental learners – good role models
Essential that we show them we believe their intelligence is not fixed
We need to make them believe they can improve
We need to ensure they know how to improve Collaborative classroom environment where
pupils take responsibility for their own learning Pupils understand the Growth Mindset and how
it can help them
How do we move our pupils from Entity Learners to Incremental Learners?
Carol Dweck interview (1)
The origins of Growth Mindset
We need to praise: Effort Strategies that lead towards success Good learning processes (AfL strategies) ResilienceWe should not praise: Intelligence, “cleverness” or talent
Process Praise
Self-esteem for Entity Learners can be boosted in the short term by easy success – but does not last and is just as easily diminished by failures
Self-esteem for Incremental Learners is much more resilient and less likely to be affected by failure
It is a positive way of experiencing yourself when you are fully engaged and using all your abilities in pursuit of something you value
True self-esteem is not something we give people by telling them about their high intelligence
A different view of self-esteem
Y5 & Y6 students were given a series of conceptual problems to solve
All children could solve the first eight problems, with hints or training if needed
They could not solve the next four problems as these were too difficult for their age
What happened to their thoughts, feelings and actions when confronted with this failure?
When failure undermines and when failure motivates: helpless and mastery-oriented responses (C.Dweck)
Quickly began to denigrate their abilities and blame their intelligence for failures (“I’m no good at this”) Moments before they had been successful and their performance was just as good as Incremental Learners Following failure, many now thought they could not solve the problems they had just got right! They also thought they had got more problems wrong than right! (in fact they had got twice as many right) Their fragile self-belief quickly disappeared
Entity Learners
Did not blame their intelligence for failure, in fact most did not even see themselves as failing!
Tended to issue instructions to themselves on how to improve performance (eg “I should try to slow down and figure this out”)
Remained confident that they would succeed Retained the positive mood that they had
shown while solving the easier problems Retained their self-belief in the face of
difficulty(Dweck – Self-Theories 1999)
Incremental Learners
How can we promote a positive view of failure & mistakes in the classroom?
Discuss in pairs for two minutes
Children discuss how they would react with a Growth
Mindset in different scenarios
Y6 Shiremoor Primary School
In Dweck’s research, students with the most striking history of success were often the most, rather than the least, vulnerable when confronted with difficulties or failure. These are the bright girls.
Bright girls were more vulnerable than lower achieving girls (with boys it was the opposite) and more concerned with looking smart.
Bright Girls’ Helpless Responses
There was no evidence that setting raised achievement
But there was evidence that setting diminished achievement for some students
There was much evidence that the students who were disadvantaged by this system were predominantly working class, female or very able.
Jo Boaler, 1997
How did a rigid setting system affect students?
“In set 1 for example, the students who experienced the most difficulties in response to setting were originally the highest attainers in the group. At the end of Y8, immediately before the students were setted, Carly & Lorna attained the highest and second highest NFER scores in the school. At the end of Y11 these two students achieved the lowest GCSE grades in set 1 (grade E)”
Setting, Social class & Survival of the Quickest,Jo Boaler – British educational Research
Journal, 1997
Jo Boaler’s research:setting & high achieving girls
JB: Can you think of some good and bad things about being in set 1?
L: I can think of the bad thingsC: I agree.JB: OK, what are the bad things?L: You’re expected to know everything, even if
you’re not sure about thingsC: You’re pushed too hard.L: He expects you to work all the time at a high level.C: It makes me do less work, they expect too much of
me and I can’t give it so I just give up.(Carly & Lorna, Amber Hill, Year 11, Set 1)
Interview with these two girls
“I was surprised to find that two girls who came out as clear entity learners from the Carol Dweck Intelligence Theory Questionnaire were the top two in the year group in Midyis scores”Louise Skinner, Longbenton College
Using Carol Dweck’s Mindsets with Y7 accelerated group
A level Maths requires students to fail intelligently (and learn from their failure)
Many high achieving girls (and boys as well) cannot cope with this unless they are incremental learners or unless their teacher promotes a Growth Mindset
High achieving girls and A level Maths
How to maximise student achievement in a setting system?
Discuss with a partner for two minutes
Be honest with students about where they are and what they need to do to improve
High expectations for students in low ability groupings
Collaborative learning Leave space in top set for promotion Make sure they have the chance to
progress to a higher set, so move between sets twice a term
Avoid reinforcing the fixed mindset!
How to maximise student achievement in a setting system?
Ask children when they feel smart……
How do we move entity learners towards becoming incremental learners?
Entity learners: “When I don’t make mistakes” “When I finish my work first” “When I get easy workIncremental Learners: “When I don’t know how to do it and its
pretty hard and I figure it out without anyone telling me”
“When I’m doing school work because I want to learn to get smart”
“When I’m reading a hard book”
When do you feel smart?
Ask students how they define intelligence…
How do we move entity learners towards becoming incremental learners?
Entity Learners: “How smart you are” “Inborn ability to learn complex ideas” “The ability to survive with the least effort
while still doing really well”Incremental Learners: “Studying hard” “The amount of knowledge you possess
and how you use it” “How much effort you put into something”
What does intelligence mean?
Get Incremental Learners to give advice to Entity Learners:
Q. “What advice would you give to a child in your class who was having trouble with Math?
A. “Do you quit a lot? Do you think for a minute and then stop? If you do, you should think for a long time – two minutes maybe and if you can’t get it you should read the problem again. If you can’t get it then, you should raise your hand and ask the teacher.” (second grade child)Mindset by C Dweck
How do we move entity learners towards becoming incremental learners?
Discuss the Incremental Learner & Entity Learner Mindmap slides with children
Ask them when they feel smart & why Discuss easy work and difficult work (which
helps you learn more?) Discuss the importance of challenge and
having a go at difficult tasks Why mistakes are good Discuss sporting and other role-models Discuss the Growth Mindset & Process Praise
with parents Focus on Learning
How we promote an Incremental Mindset
In Y7 the work may become harder in some subjects (may be easier in others!)
Grading may become more stringent Instruction may be less personalised Students may initially be less clear about
what their teachers require of them Classroom environment may seem less
safe
Good KS2-KS3 transition – a key issue in EAZ
Many showed a marked decline in their class standing Those who had done poorly in Y6 tended to continue
to do poorly Many who had been high achievers in Y6 were now
among the lower achievers Many who showed this decline had held high
confidence in their intelligence Were significantly more apprehensive about their
school work and tended to be more anxious about school in general
Did show some recovery in their standing in Y8 but were still clearly below where they had been in Primary School
Henderson & Dweck 1990
What happens to entity learners after transition to High School?Carol Dweck’s research findings
Many showed a clear improvement in their class standing
Those who had done well in Y6 continued to do well
Many of those who had been among the lower achievers in Y6 were now doing much better, often entering the ranks of higher achievers
Many of those making the most impressive gains were those with low confidence in their intelligence
Henderson & Dweck 1990
What happens to Incremental Learners after transition to High School?Carol Dweck’s research findings
Y7 progress in relation to Mindset
% students making expected progress
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