Taking on a Growth Mindset Approach

What does it mean to take a Growth Mindset Approach?

University transition is challenging in nature as it builds learners' abilities to engage in academia. Students are challenged to build upon their identity as learners and educators within their campus and the broader communities. At times, these learning journeys may lead to learning outcomes that are not desirable to students, in this section, we hope to introduce the notion of the growth mindset approach when discussing the Fixed Mindset Approach. Developed by Dr. Carol Dweck, a binary framework was formed to expand on the beliefs related to learning, intellect and intelligence. Fixed Mindset argues that intelligence is static and that learners are not able to expand, this is the fear or belief that some may just not be capable of meeting their academic goals. The Growth Mindset Approach believes that everyone has the ability to be driven and that learning skills are built upon their goals and academic success (Dweck, 2020; KloudLearn, 2020; WGU, 2022).

A Growth Mindset implies that failure can be utilized as a learning opportunity. That we are able to learn and grow from milestones in our academic journey. The normalization of failure is understanding the complexities in the limitations of fixed Mindset Approaches which mitigates the assumption that there is no adaptability of natural qualities, characteristics, and abilities. Dr. Dweck reviews how learners should find the balance between a Growth Mindset and a Fixed Mindset (Dweck, 2020; KloudLearn, 2020; WGU, 2022).

Things that are important to be mindful of throughout this process is:

1. When you faithing the failure and challenges, you could focusing on process praise not person performance response to reinforce motivation to normalize failure as a part of the learning process (Finamore et al., 2022, p. 33)

2. Listen to the stories of others to learn how they utilized their problem-solving skills within the classroom. To learn from their experience, the steps they took and how they were able to succeed a valuable outcome. To learn that sticking with a problem until it's solved, like putting together a puzzle, is a natural, healthy, and adaptive part of learning.

3. Acknowledge your strengths and areas of development, to see where you would like to set goals in the pursuit of skill and academic development. This may be supported through the identification of a mentor; informal or formalized mentorship opportunities can allow for accountability in the Growth Mindset. Mentors may be; peer mentors within your department, TAs, professors and instructors.

(Dweck, 2020; KloudLearn, 2020; WGU, 2022)

References:

Dweck, C. S. (2012). Mindset. London: Robinson.

Finamore, D., Hewitt, E. V., Millam, L. A., Reinhardt, M. M., & Watson, L. (2022). TCC 2022 Conference Papers. Conference Papers, 8.

KloudLearn. (2020, April 27). Do you have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset? Medium. Retrieved July 31, 2022, from https://kloudlearn.medium.com/do-you-have-a-fixed-mindset-or-a-growth-mindset-a99dbfab7e72

Schwartz, L. (2021, September 30). Teaching with google arts & culture. Google. Retrieved July 30, 2022, from https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/arts-culture/teaching-google-arts-culture/

WGU. (2022, May 9). What is a growth mindset? 8 steps to develop one. Western Governors University. Retrieved July 20, 2022, from https://www.wgu.edu/blog/what-is-growth-mindset-8-steps-develop-one1904.html#close