These workshop slides offer SI-PASS/PAL Leaders a brief introduction - PDF document

These workshop slides offer SI-PASS/PAL Leaders a brief introduction to ‘Growth Mindset’ theory – and from slide 16 offer some practical strategies to develop growth mindsets in SI-PASS/PAL sessions. 1

This is the K-W-L activity – what do you ‘know’, ‘what’ do you want to know, and later at the end, what have you ‘learned’? *This is a great growth mindset activity to highlight the process of learning in a session. 2

Consider some of these statements.. Do any resonate with you? How can we understand where these actions and behaviors come from? Might the students at our SI-PASS/ PAL sessions also be thinking and feeling like this, and how can we help to remove some of these barriers to learning? 3

Mindset theory is something that Carol Dweck of Stanford University in the US has spent her career working on. The basic premise is that there are two kinds of mindset – fixed, and growth. Fixed mindset people believe that intelligence (or ability, talent etc.) is innate, static, and cannot be changed. Those with a growth mindset accept that you can develop your intelligence through effort. (I’ll come back to the problems with that word, ‘effort’, in due course). Now, one of the first things that I thought of when I learned about this was – well, I have a fixed mindset about X and a growth mindset about Y, and I’ve also been taught – and believe – that intelligence is a mix of nature / nurture. Well, thankfully, this is just the simplified, ‘ideal types’ explanation, and students that undertake the intervention with us will be encouraged to think critically about this kind of binary theory. In any case, Dweck herself has said that mindsets exist on a spectrum, and that we all have a bit of both. Here’s Dweck introducing the theory in a 3 minute clip.. https://youtu.be/wh0OS4MrN3E 4

Khan Academy Dweck interview video: https://youtu.be/wh0OS4MrN3E Time 3:06 minutes. Leaders could run a session by asking PASS students to watch this video – it is a concise but useful introduction to some of the key concepts that are within Mindsets theory.

This slide is to recap the key points about mindsets in the video. Growth mindset ‘traits’ and fixed mindset ‘traits’ – each lead to implications and consequences for belief in one’s own ability, and the learning process for individuals – as the next slide shows…

Dweck argues these ‘traits’ arise as a result, or are compounded by one’s own mindset, and indicates how mindsets can impact a person’s approach to learning. 7

Leaders could run this Think – Pair – Share activity ACTIVITY TIME: Total 5 mins. Ask participants to think about their own fixed/ growth mindsets, then discuss in pairs before feeding back thoughts to the group: What do you have a fixed / growth mindset about? (can be past/present) - How has this affected your approach to learning? (turn back to previous slide if need prompting) - When feeding back to the group, encourage a critical discussion – specifically: Can we have both fixed and growth mindsets? - About different things? About the same thing? - This leads into the next slide… 8

The emphasis here is that fixed/growth mindsets exist on a continuum, and that we can have a bit of each about the same, or different things. Give examples – draw on student responses in prior discussion / use personal example / make up an example, e.g. some people may have a fixed mindset about maths, and a growth mindset about football training... or, some people may believe that being a good musician is partly about innate talent, and partly about practice. Leads into discussion on neuroplasticity (how the brain grows in response to learning) – point here is that ability is much more malleable than many believe… 9

Watch the 2 minute animation on neuroplasticity.. https://youtu.be/ELpfYCZa87g The brain physiologically changes when we learn so therefore… it is possible to develop our abilities with training – just as those with a growth mindset believe / the scientific evidence therefore suggests that the idea that ability is innate, as thought by those with fixed mindsets, is inaccurate. Continue (links to next slides): Experiencing failure / making mistakes is one of the most useful ways to learn. Our brains develop when we make a mistake and think about the mistake. This brain activity doesn’t happen when people get work correct. **From my own experience, this process of working against the comfort and ease of the pathways and habits that are so ingrained is EFFORT!! What is particularly interesting is then what this leads to in terms of unconscious habits, biases, what subjects, interests, people we are drawn to (sub-consciously) and how that affects our judgements and behaviours without our awareness. *More on this topic of ‘stereotype threat’ a bit later.

Using the gym analogy is quite useful – a brain ‘workout’ involves challenge – but it’s not easy! Learning is not always plain sailing – it can actually be uncomfortable at times, but something we can learn to live with.

This video is about how neural pathways form habits of thinking, and automatic responses, that can progress or inhibit our goals. https://youtu.be/UYSKW3IvZlQ?list=PL53nCCeNj-RQDhbjE9LjvnFad-wdB5bw7 12

Consider some of these comments; any you relate to, about yourself, or others? [ If time/ need: Discuss for a few minutes] Stereotype threat – is being or feeling at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one’s group. Stereotype Threat can therefore lead to… – Poorer performance in assessment or other tasks - Acceptance of poor performance like “I predicted this would happen” - Distancing oneself from a stereotyped group like “I don’t fit in” or “It’s not for me” - Redirection of choices, aspirations and career paths It is interesting to consider the impact that stereotype threat has on all of us as individuals, as students, teachers, managers etc. But what is interesting in this project is the combined effect of a students’ own stereotype threat, with that of their tutors, or parents, which is also projected onto the student. This is the reason why this intervention is not simply aimed at students – which would insinuate some kind of ‘deficit’ in the student. 13

It’s important to recognize that stereotypes can form barriers to us, and send fixed mindset messages to us and others. Let’s be aware of what is happening and more conscious of whether stereotypes are causing us to perform less well. Send growth mindset messages to others to create a positive approach to learning and potential.

Now that we have introduced the theory and the connections between them, we can move on to some practical strategies for SI-PASS/ PAL sessions!

Here there are four considerations for SI-PASS/ PAL Leaders to use within their sessions. 16

https://youtu.be/iC4WyIhZI40 Demystifying the processes by which inventions or discoveries have been made, can help students to understand and feel more comfortable with the challenging process of learning. By making a mistake, we are led to the pivotal question: "Why was that wrong?” ~ leads to critical thinking, problem solving, curiosity, reasoning, resilience. Open question – think about your disciplinary area – what breakthroughs have been made, through adversity, failed attempts, challenge, trial and error? Reflection reflection reflection https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2012/08/21/essay-importance-teaching- failure 17

This is a short (3 minute) video highlighting some failures of high-profile, successful people. Video link: https://youtu.be/zLYECIjmnQs 18

Possible SI-PASS/ PAL activity. Give students 3-4 minutes to write down two examples of when they’ve ‘failed’, or made a mistake – 1 that they dealt with with a growth mindset, and one with a fixed mindset. Students should essentially be thinking about a time when they persevered because they knew that they’d get it with practice, and one where they gave up because they didn’t think they’d get it or it was too hard for them. Spend 3-4 minutes discussing this as a group (check understanding). Prompt for understanding of the consequences (i.e., with practice I improved vs. missed opportunity to learn etc.) 19

These types of statements offer fixed mindset feedback to others. The talk of ‘gifted and talented’ or ‘clever’ indicates that some people are clever or naturals, and others aren’t. This is not true. With a growth mindset it is best to feedback on the strategies and nuances of someone’s learning (process) rather than the outcome (product). 20

Beware of using seemingly complementary statements to try and make people feel better, but that send a fixed mindset message… it’s better to recognise the strategies and effort – the learning process!