Developing Growth Mindsets Parents and Carers Information Afternoon

Implicit Theories Scale Indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with each of the statements by writing the number that corresponds to your opinion. No right or wrong answers here. A. People have a certain amount of intelligence and can’t do much to change it B. People can change even their most basic qualities C. You can do things differently but parts of who you are cannot be changed D. Intelligence is genetically inherited E. No matter who you are, you can change your intelligence level F. No matter who someone is and how they act, they can change their ways G. Someone’s personality is part of them and can’t be changed H. People’s cognitive abilities are fluid and readily changeable 1 Strongly agree 2 Agree 3 Mostly agree 4 Mostly disagree 5 Disagree 6 Strongly disagree

Why develop Growth Mindsets? Key priority of National Improvement Framework 2015/17 to improve children’s health and wellbeing Outlined within Linlithgow Schools’ Cluster Improvement Plan Our aim, as a forward-thinking school, is to encourage learning oriented, challenge-seeking pupil dispositions and qualities, and increase levels of challenge within our classrooms

Parent and Carers’ Role One of the key drivers to achieving this is parental engagement 87% of parents believe that most their child’s academic success is based purely upon their natural abilities Research strongly suggests that parental involvement in a child’s education can raise attainment

Myths About Ability, Success, Praise and Confidence That children with greater ability are more likely to enjoy learning Success in school makes children love learning Praise, especially praising intelligence, leads to a love of learning Confidence in one’s intelligence is the key to loving learning

Growth Mindset Theory Dr. Carol Dweck is a psychologist of Stanford University Research of pupils’ achievement and success that forms the basis for theory Her and colleagues studied the behaviour of thousands of children Many rebounded from failure whilst others were left devastated by the smallest of setbacks Terms fixed mindset and growth mindset to describe underlying beliefs that people hold about learning and intelligence

Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset Here is a short video to explain the difference:

Intelligence is a fixed trait Mindset: Fixed Growth Your belief: Intelligence is a fixed trait Intelligence is cultivated through learning Your priority: Look smart, not thick Become smarter through learning You feel smart: Achieving easy, low effort successes and outperforming others Engaging fully with new tasks, exerting effort, stretching and applying skills You avoid: Effort, difficulty, setbacks, higher-performing peers Easy, previously mastered tasks

Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset continued… Fixed mindset believe basic qualities, such as intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits and automatically lead to success Growth mindset believe basic qualities can be improved through hard work and dedication Neuroscience supports this as recent studies show that the brain is far more malleable than we believed it to be Connectivity between neurons in our brains changes with experience, and with practise we can make new connections whilst strengthening existing ones In child friendly speak, our brain is a muscle, we can become smarter by exercising it Shift in mindset can lead to improvements in terms of both motivation and achievement

A Different Way of Thinking Encouraging pupils to try a different way of thinking In the face of challenge, children with a fixed mindset respond differently to those with a growth mindset Instead of thinking: Try thinking: I can’t do this…  I can’t do this YET. I’m awesome at this…  I’m on the right track. I give up…  I’ll try a new strategy. This is too hard…  This may take time and effort. I made a mistake…  Mistakes help me to learn. That’s good enough…  Is it my best work? Well, that was a fail…  First Attempt In Learning. I’ll never be as smart as them…  I’m going to ask how they do it.

Teaching Practice Has a huge impact on a pupil’s mindset Can encourage a child to choose challenge and increased difficulty, or opt for easy way out The way in which we praise pupils is crucial Praise the effort, not the ability Two educational fallacies are that pupils learn more when they receive praise and that pupils need continual praise to establish, or maintain feelings of self-worth

“Praising ability does not assist you to learn “Praising ability does not assist you to learn. We know of no research suggesting that receiving praise based on ability itself can assist a person to learn or to increase their knowledge and understanding.” (Hattie & Yates, 2014, p67)

Types of Motivation We want our children to be intrinsically motivated, ie. doing something for the thing itself with a focus on the actual process As opposed to being extrinsically motivated, ie. doing something for what it may bring as a reward Praise the children’s efforts, not their abilities Overpraising leads to a fear of making mistakes and worry that they have to reach the same standard in every task Encouraging our pupils to welcome challenge, use different strategies in the face of adversity and embrace the idea that mistakes form part of learning process

For items B, E, F and H only, change the scores you provided in the following way: If you scored 1, change to 6 If you scored 2, change to 5 If you scored 3, change to 4 If you scored 4, change to 3 If you scored 5, change to 2 If you scored 6, change to 1 Now add the scores obtained for all 8 items (A-H) to get an aggregate score.

Reported implicit belief Total: Reported implicit belief 8 - 12 Extremely fixed 13 - 20 Strongly fixed 21 - 25 Mildly fixed 26 - 32 Balanced 33 - 36 Mildly growth 37 - 43 Strongly growth 44 - 48 Extremely growth

“The hallmark of successful individuals is that they love learning, they seek challenges, they value effort, and they persist in the face of obstacles.” (Carol Dweck, 2000)

Thank You Parents/carers are key drivers to the children’s success and we value this partnership You are now invited to go and see some growth mindset work in action in your child(s) classroom(s) 2.00 – 2.45pm