Many students go into a classroom with their mindsets being fixed on am I going to look smart or not. They base their activities on what they think their intelligence is instead of what it actually is. Other students think their intelligence is something they can develop their whole life through education. If we teach students the growth mindset then good results are evident.
An eight session workshop was created where half of the students got the 8 session workshop on study skills and a growth mindset, and the other half just got study skills. Researchers thought study skills were great and motivating, but they did no good whatsoever for the students because they did not have motivation. For the most part, those students’ grades continued to decline.
For the students who got the growth mindset lesson, they received information telling the students things like their brain is a muscle and it gets stronger with use. These students were told they can increase their intellectual skills. They were also told no one laughs at babies and tells them how dumb they are, they just have not learn yet. At the end of the semester these students had shown a significant rebound in their grades. The teachers could tell which kids were in the study skills and mindset kids and they didn’t even know there were two workshops.
Ross Bently, a world renowned racecar driver coach, saw the connection between a growth mindset and optimal performance. Top races last for hours and in the course of the race mistakes are inevitable, and the difference between a winning driver and a losing driver is how you handle those mistakes. Drivers were tested on if they could stay in the zone. It is important in the business world, at all levels, for people to believe in growth of skills and to admit mistakes and overcome them. If you cannot keep up with the changing world, then you cannot learn and grow.
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