Growth Mindset
Understand the concept of a growth mindset: abilities and intelligence can grow with effort, practice, and good strategies, as opposed to a fixed mindset where you believe you're either good at something or you're not
What a learner can do afterwards
- Explain the difference between growth mindset and fixed mindset in their own words
- Use 'yet' language when describing something they find difficult
- Give an example of something they got better at through practice and effort
1 · Read
A fixed mindset means thinking your skills cannot change. A growth mindset means believing you can learn and build skills. To learn to tie your shoes or do a cartwheel, practice can help. If one way is not helping, try a new way or ask for help. Learning takes time, and a hard day does not mean your skills are fixed.
Mia often tipped over while learning cartwheels. She said, 'I can't do this well yet.' She asked her teacher for help and practiced. After two weeks, more of her tries worked. Saying 'yet' reminded her to keep learning; saying the word alone did not teach her the skill.
Next time something feels hard, add one word: yet. Try saying, 'I can't read this word yet,' instead of 'I can't read this word.' That word keeps the door open for trying again.
A growth mindset leaves room to learn. Practice, new ways, and help can grow your skills.
The rewritten reading was written for this dataset.
More to read
What is growth mindset?
Sam always got good grades in math and felt like he was just good at it. One day he had trouble with a problem. He got frustrated and thought, "I am not good at math. There is no use trying." Then he stopped studying.
That is a fixed mindset. It means thinking your skills can never change.
Sam's friend Mia thinks differently. When something is hard, she says, "I don't understand this yet, but I can learn it if I keep practicing." That is a growth mindset. It means believing you can get smarter and better at things with effort and good strategies.
The word "yet" leaves room to learn. It turns "I can't do this" into "I can't do this yet," and that leaves room to grow.
Which voice will I hear?
Sometimes a thought says, 'I will never learn this.' Another thought might be, 'I can try a new way or ask for help.' These are different ways to think about learning. A growth mindset leaves room for skills to change. You do not have to feel cheerful all the time to keep learning.
Mistakes can be good if we learn from them!
Mistakes are part of learning. They can give clues about what to try next. Sometimes you need a teacher or friend to help you find the clue. Then you can try a new way and see whether it helps.
Learn: The growth mindset
Psychologist Carol Dweck studied beliefs about learning. A fixed mindset treats abilities as unchanging. A growth mindset means believing abilities can develop through practice, useful strategies, and help from others. It does not mean every try must work.
Skills can grow
If learning feels hard, pause, try a new way or ask for help. These choices and practice can help your skills grow. Believing your skills can grow is called a growth mindset. A hard try cannot show how much you might learn later.
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2 · Watch
به انگلیسیTake it off screen
Where it sits
Optional connections
This opens up
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.