How to Implement

Before You Get Started

Cultivating a growth mindset can (unfortunately) be quite tricky. Researchers and educators have spent years thinking about this, and there is still much to be learned! From their experience thus far, however, they do know the following :

• Simply telling a person to have a growth mindset can backfire. People can have a negative reaction to being told how to think. Instead, a more scientific and practical explanation about how intelligence works — that the brain can get stronger and smarter with new learning — has been demonstrated to be effective.
• In the same vein, reiterating the message “just try harder” can also be problematic. Most girls have heard and heard “just try harder,” but a growth mindset isn’t just about trying harder. People need to understand why they should put in effort and how to deploy that effort. Providing specific positive feedback and strategies related to the work being done will help the girls get through the tough spot. You're not giving them the solution, but rather a jumping off point.

• View these videos with the group to spark a brief discussion about the brain’s malleability.
  • Class Dojo Video for Mindset (2:35)
  • “Neuroplasticity” by Sentis (2:05)
• Explain to the girls that the ideas presented in the videos are based on neuroscience and the brain really can be rewired to learn and think differently. There will be many opportunities during SciGirls CODE for the girls to grow their minds as they deal with complex problems.
• Share a time when you, personally, overcame a learning struggle to solve a problem.
  • In your story, highlight
    • hard work
    • strategies you used
    • how you got help from others
• Ask girls to share with a partner or a team of three a time that they made their brains smarter. They may even tie this to the struggles they had during the marshmallow challenge.
• As a large group, initiate a discussion about how working hard, taking on challenges, and finding the right strategy can make people smarter.
• Using input from the girls, make a two-column poster. You can use the example in the Notes to Educators to guide you, but the girls should generate most of the poster themselves.
  • Label column one “Instead of …”
  • Label column two “Try thinking …”
• Start out by asking girls, “What are some of the things we tell ourselves when we are blocked? What things to we tell ourselves that prevent us from doing our best work?” List those in column one.
• Then ask, “What are some things we can say or think instead?”