Aug 09 2008
Brainology – How Big Is Yours?
Transforming Students’ Motivation to Learn by Carol Dweck
This is why so many bright students stop working when school becomes hard. Many bright students find primary school easy and coast to success early on. But later on, when they are challenged, they struggle. They don’t want to make mistakes and feel dumb — and, most of all, they don’t want to work hard and feel dumb. So they simply retire.
Dweck’s research also found
It is the belief that intelligence can be developed that opens students to a love of learning, a belief in the power of effort and constructive, determined reactions to setbacks.
The children praised for their intelligence did not want to learn. When we offered them a challenging task that they could learn from, the majority opted for an easier one, one on which they could avoid making mistakes. The children praised for their effort wanted the task they could learn from.
How do you praise students? Can we do it differently? (Croatia is just marching in … Aussies are third last… d’oh)
By focusing them on the process they engaged in — their effort, their strategies, their concentration, their perseverance, or their improvement.
“You really stuck to that until you got it. That’s wonderful!”
“It was a hard project, but you did it one step at a time and it turned out great!”
“I like how you chose the tough problems to solve. You’re really going to stretch yourself and learn new things.”
Another top read “You Can Grow Your Intelligence”. I’ll share this with my Year 7’s on Monday morning.
Back to the Games, the Aussies are on soon, I hope.
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