1. Dr. Ruth C. Steidinger

2. “Research shows that focusing on what (curriculum) is taught and how (pedagogy) it is taught is not sufficient. Psychological factors called motivational or non-cognitive factors can matter even more than cognitive factors for students’ academic performance”. Dweck, Walton, and Cohen, 2014

3. Why do some students perform better than others even when they have the same level of ability or past performance?
Beliefs about themselves
Their goals in school
Their feelings of social belonging, and
Their self-regulatory skills

4. Beliefs about Themselves
Mindsets:
Students belief about their academic ability influence their academic tenacity.
If students are going to invest their effort and energy in school, it is important they they first believe the effort will pay off.
Self-efficacy, belief in one’s ability to achieve goals can predict a student’s level of performance.
Need to make a shift from a need to prove one’s intelligence to improving it.

5. Mindset Cliff Notes

6. Mindset Story

8. Changes in Fixed and Growth Mindset Across Grade Levels
Surveyed K-3 students on their beliefs about intelligence
Grade
Fixed Mindset
Growth Mindset K
n/a
100% 1
10%
90% 2
18%
82% 3
42%
58%
Mary Cay Ricci, Mindsets in the Classroom

9. Vocabulary Word for the Day!
Neuroplasticity – the ability of the brain to change, adapt, and “rewire” itself throughout our entire life.
Neuroplasticity works both ways; it creates new connections and eliminates connections that are not often used.

10. How Can We Be Intentional in Helping Students’ Improve Their Belief in Themselves?
Teach them the power of positive self-talk:
There are greater brainwave responses to negative stimuli. (self-talk matters)
People work harder to avoid a loss than to attain an equal gain. (shifting self-talk matters)
Negative interactions are more powerful than positive. (shifting self-talk matters)

11. The Power of Self-Talk How does the “self-talk” interpret experiences?
Positive Experiences (Teflon)
Negative Experiences (Velcro)

12. How Can You Shape a Child’s Mindset?
Read about It
Be intentional
In teaching it

13. How Can You Shape a Child’s Mindset?
Share Examples
Malcom Mitchell
University of Georgia
Help Students Grow/Develop
a Growth Mindset

14. Make it Visible!

15. How Do You Shape a Child’s Mindset?
Reframe Problems
Using stories and examples talk about “desirable difficulties”
Malcolm Gladwell
Foster Safe Circumstances and Environments That Encourage a Growth Mindset
Embrace Failure – create an environment that encourages mistakes
First
Attempt In
Learning

16. How Do You Shape a Child’s Mindset?
Help Students Develop Intentional Habits
Acknowledge the Sacrifice Effort Requires
Effort takes time and many students are not giving it their all.

17. Why do some students perform better than others even when they have the same level of ability or past performance?
Beliefs about themselves
Their goals in school
Their feelings of social belonging, and
Their self-regulatory skills

18. Students Achievement Goals
Performance (as a way of proving one’s ability) vs. Learning Goals (as a way of improving one’s ability)
Performance goals ensure success because little is required of you whereas learning goals stretch you.
Students’ endorsement of these goals often predicts their academic achievement. This was found across the ethnic spectrum and among both low and high income students.

20. Why do some students perform better than others even when they have the same level of ability or past performance?
Beliefs about themselves
Their goals in school
Their feelings of social belonging, and
Their self-regulatory skills

21. Relationships Matter
In a survey of high school dropouts, researchers noted that their participants craved one-on-one attention from their teachers, and when they received it, they remembered it making a difference.
Some of their best days in school were those when their teachers noticed them, got involved in class, and encouraged them.
A study of 3rd graders’ pro-social behaviors (behaviors that led to positive social relationships in school) predicted their grades in 8th grade even better than their academic performance in 3rd grade.

22. Relationships Matter
In a large study of more than 12,000 adolescents from a nationally representative sample, school connectedness emerged as one of the two most consistent and powerful protective factors against every measured form of adolescent risk and distress (family connectedness other factor)

23. Relationships Matter
This relationship was found even after controlling for demographic variables such as sex, ethnicity, family structure, and poverty.
The subjective sense of belonging surpassed the effect of a number of objective factors typically associated with being at risk, such as low GPA, being retained in a grade, and parental absence.
Resnick et al, 1997

24. Why do some students perform better than others even when they have the same level of ability or past performance?
Beliefs about themselves
Their goals in school
Their feelings of social belonging, and
Their self-regulatory skills (self control and grit)

25. Power of Self-Control
A relatively recent study assessed 8th graders self-control using reports from parents, teachers and student self-reports.
An average of these measures proved highly predictive of students’ final 8th grade GPA, achievement test scores, and whether they were admitted to a selective high school.
Additionally self-control was an even stronger predictor of success than a student’s IQ score.

26. Power of Grit
Self-control will aide an individual in achieving short term goals, yet high levels of achievement require sustained effort, grit/perseverance, on difficult tasks.
Grit predicts educational attainment and adolescents’ and college students’ GPA.
Students with growth mindsets about intelligence and learning goals will show more grit in their academic work.