How Does the Brain Learn Best? Smart Studying Strategies In his new book, “How We Learn: The Surprising Truth about When, Where, and Why It Happens,” author Benedict Carey informs us that “most of our instincts about learning are misplaced, incomplete, or flat wrong” and “rooted more in superstition than in science.” That’s a disconcerting message, and hard to believe at first. But it’s also unexpectedly liberating, because Carey further explains that many things we think of as detractors from learning — like forgetting, distractions, interruptions or sleeping rather than hitting the books — aren’t necessarily bad after all. They can actually work in your favor, according to a body of research that offers surprising insights and simple, doable strategies for learning more effectively. Society has ingrained in us “a monkish conception of what learning is, of you sitting with your books in your cell,” Carey told MindShift. “How We Learn” presents a new view that takes some of the pressure off. Getting to Know Your Brain’s Memory Processes
Nurturing Growth Mindsets: Six Tips From Carol Dweck - Rules for Engagement Washington Stanford researcher Carol Dweck clearly tapped into a powerful and compelling idea when she linked the concept of growth mindsets to academic success. As fans of Dweck's research can quickly explain, people with fixed mindsets see strengths and skills as inate traits, like eye color. You're either born with them, or you're not. Enthusiasm for Dweck's work has spread rapidly, and her name is a buzzword in many schools as teachers buy into the idea that helping students shift their mindsets can lead to academic gains. But, in recent years, Dweck has worked to balance that enthusiasm by busting some misconceptions about her research and its applications in schools. "I fear that my work, which grew up to counter the failed self-esteem movement, will be used for the same purpose, trying to make kids feel good but not actually changing the process of learning," Dweck said, explaining her concerns. Here are six tips pulled from Dweck's talk: 1. 2. What sparks students' fixed mindsets?
Does Your Child Have a Growth Mindset? - Jenni and Jody This week on POP Parenting Radio, we kicked off a new series on helping kids develop healthy habits with a look at creating healthy habits for the mind. Over the past year or so, Jody and I have been super interested in studying habits. I guess it started when we read the book The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg. So much of what we do in life is driven by habit — and that can be both good and bad. So for the month of July, we are talking about helping kids develop good habits. Saturday, July 2 — Healthy Habits for the Mind with Jenni & Jody (podcast is included below) Saturday, July 9 — Healthy Habits for the Body with Dr. Saturday, July 16 — Healthy Habits for the Spirit with Rabbi Elaine Glickman and Pastor Tony Faeth Saturday, July 23 — Healthy Habits for Organization with author Evan Zislis Saturday, July 30 — Healthy Habits for Time Management (guest TBA) This Week’s Show Topic Brother Brother Music Jenni Stahlmann More Posts
Recognizing and Overcoming False Growth Mindset All educators care deeply about their students' motivation. They want them to love learning, and to be resourceful and persistent in the face of learning challenges. They don't want their students to lose heart when they get stuck, make mistakes, or receive disappointing grades. In this context, the growth mindset entered the scene. A growth mindset is the belief that you can develop your talents and abilities through hard work, good strategies, and help from others. We typically teach students a growth mindset through online programs that demonstrate how the brain changes with learning (how the neurons grow stronger connections when students work on hard things and stick with them) and how to apply this to their schoolwork. In the wake of the many exciting research results, educators became increasingly interested in promoting a growth mindset among their students. Identifying a False Growth Mindset Praising Effort Alone Teachers need to tell the truth. Blaming the Student's Mindset
Marie Curie on Curiosity, Wonder, and the Spirit of Adventure in Science by Maria Popova A short manifesto for the vitalizing power of discovery. “Few persons contributed more to the general welfare of mankind and to the advancement of science than the modest, self-effacing woman whom the world knew as Mme. Curie.” So read the obituary for Marie Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the only person to date to win a Nobel in two different sciences, published the day after her death in 1934. Among the ample anecdotes of the great scientist’s life and the many direct quotations of her humbly stated yet fiercely upheld convictions is one particularly poignant passage that speaks to the immutable resonance between science and wonder, the inextinguishable causal relationship between childhood’s innate curiosity and humanity’s greatest feats of discovery. I am among those who think that science has great beauty. Donating = Loving Bringing you (ad-free) Brain Pickings takes hundreds of hours each month. Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter.
Developing a Growth Mindset in Teachers and Staff The New Psychology of Success (2000), Dweck developed a continuum upon which people can be placed, based upon their understandings about where ability comes from. For some people (at one end of said continuum), success (and failure) is based on innate ability (or the lack of it). Deck describes this as a fixed theory of intelligence, and argues that this gives rise to a ‘fixed mindset’. At the other end of the continuum are those people who believe success is based on a growth mindset. These individuals argue that success is based on learning, persistence and hard work. According to Dweck: In a fixed mindset students believe their basic abilities, their intelligence, their talents, are just fixed traits. The crucial point for individuals is that these mindsets have a large impact upon our understanding of success and failure. Needless to say, this idea of mindsets has significant implications for education. Crucially, Dweck’s research is applicable to all people, not just students.
Failure - An Essential Ingredient For Coaching Success — Evercoach I am not sure why, but failure gets a bad reputation. If you study the lives of individuals who are highly successful, failure is almost always the stepping-stone to their success. In fact, without that failure, these highly successful people might not have been able to understand, achieve, or maintain their success. Failure is not celebrated in our society. Statistics bear this out. Edison realized that it did not matter how many tries it took him to invent the light bulb. Michael Jordan, one of the most iconic players in the history of basketball, is often noted for his successes, his comebacks, and his game winning shots. Michael missed over 9,000 shots during this career. How Does Failure Relate to Coaching Success? When people first start coaching, they are ready to help others change their lives. When you start off as a new coach, you want immediate success. However, whenever you are building any type of business, there are always some learning lessons along the way. More Posts
The Science: The Growth Mindset - Mindset Works®: Student Motivation through a Growth Mindset, by Carol Dweck, Ph.D. Why the Growth Mindset? When students and educators have a growth mindset, they understand that intelligence can be developed. Students focus on improvement instead of worrying about how smart they are. They work hard to learn more and get smarter. Based on years of research by Stanford University’s Dr. What does a Growth Mindset School look like? Administrators support teachers’ learning. Teachers collaborate with their colleagues and instructional leaders, rather than shut their classroom doors and fly solo. Parents support their children’s learning both inside and outside the classroom. Students are enthusiastic, hard-working, persistent learners. What is the impact of Mindset? Mindsets Predict Motivation and Achievement In one study, Blackwell and her colleagues followed hundreds of students making the transition to 7th grade. Growth Mindset Training Boosts Motivation and Achievement Growth Mindset Training Narrows the Gender Gap in Math Research shows that Intelligence is Malleable
Treat Failure Like a Scientist I recently had a wonderful conversation with my friend, Beck Tench. During our chat, Beck told me about an interesting shift in thinking that occurred while she worked at a science museum. During her time there, Beck said that she learned how to treat failure like a scientist. How does a scientist treat failure? Here’s what Beck taught me… Treat Failure Like a Scientist When a scientist runs an experiment, there are all sorts of results that could happen. And that’s exactly how a scientist treats failure: as another data point. This is much different than how society often talks about failure. Failing a test means you’re not smart enough. But for the scientist, a negative result is not an indication that they are a bad scientist. Your failures are simply data points that can help lead you to the right answer. Failure is the Cost You Pay to be Right None of this is to say that you should seek to make mistakes or that failing is fun. Treat failure like a scientist.
Growth Mindset: Clearing up Some Common Confusions By Eduardo Briceño A growth mindset is the understanding that personal qualities and abilities can change. It leads people to take on challenges, persevere in the face of setbacks, and become more effective learners. As more and more people learn about the growth mindset, which was first discovered by Stanford Professor Carol Dweck, we sometimes observe some confusions about it. Recently some critiques have emerged. Of course we invite critical analysis and feedback, as it helps all of us learn and improve, but some of the recent commentary seems to point to misunderstandings of growth mindset research and practice. Confusion #1: What a growth mindset is When we ask people to tell us what the growth mindset is, we often get lots of different answers, such as working hard, having high expectations, being resilient, or more general ideas like being open or flexible. Confusion #2: To foster a growth mindset, simply praise children for working hard Deepening our understanding over time
5 Failures You Need to Experience If You Want to Succeed In Life If you are too afraid of failure, you can’t possibly do what needs to be done to be successful. I fail far more than you might assume, especially given the fact that I’ve written hundreds of articles, coached thousands of people, and even written a book on forming productive habits, being mindful, and finding contentment despite our struggles. I fail at all of those things sometimes, and it feels just as dreadful for me as it does for anybody else. I come down hard on myself, feel guilty, try to avoid thinking about it, and would rather hide my failures from everyone I know. Yes, failing hurts! And yet, I brush myself off, get back up and try again. I still fail at getting to the gym sometimes, but I keep trying. I fail at being loving and compassionate to myself sometimes. I fail at being a patient and present dad and husband, especially when life gets busy. When I try over and over again, I succeed in the long run. And if you try over and over again, you will succeed too. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
The Best 3 Ways to Deal With Failure (Plus 5 Painful Ones To Avoid) Are your ways of dealing with everyday failures helping or hindering? Acceptance, positive reframing and humour are the best three ways to deal with failure, according to psychological research. These three strategies make people feel the most satisfied at the end of the day. The study, published in the journal Anxiety, Stress & Coping, had 149 people keeping daily diaries for up to two weeks (Stoeber & Janssen, 2011). They reported the most irritating failure they had during the day, how they coped with it and how satisfied they felt at the end of the day. People spontaneously used all sorts of coping strategies. The results showed, though, that these three techniques left people feeling the most satisfied at the end of the day: Acceptance.Positive reframing – looking for the positives anywhere you can, perhaps by looking at what has been done rather than what hasn’t.Humour. In contrast, people who frequently used the following five common techniques felt worse at the end of the day: