The Growth Mindset has a tremendous impact on students and adult learners. Imagine growing up thinking that you must fulfill a set of standards that are based on your innate talent or skill. If you fail in one component, you think that you will never succeed in this task. Your confidence would hinge on whether or not you could fulfill these limited standards. The Growth Mindset allows learners to approach failure as a skill or ability that they do not YET have. They have the confidence in knowing that effort can bring them to new levels and gain confidence in the progress of learning, no matter the pace. This mindset can literally set the stage for students to enhance learning in every area of their lives.
Growth mindsets can cause immense change in an individual, a classroom, or in an organization. Learners can flourish and thrive in an environment where the process of learning is prioritized and praised. Any learner who feels the freedom to make mistakes, get messy, and problem-solve through obstacles without fear of judgment will obtain tremendous growth and improvement. The growth mindset promotes an atmosphere of nurturing and support, whereas the fixed mindset causes students to feel judged and criticized. When students do not have to fear judgment, they are more willing to take risks, and in the process, ignite the love of learning that has so long been lost.
In Culinary Arts, so much of what we learn is based in tiny details- measuring flour with a scale instead of a dry measuring cup, the humidity in the room when proofing or rising dough, or even in creating a harmonous and well balanced sauce. Students are encouraged in the classroom to take risks, use trial and error, and ultimately laugh at their mishaps.
The rubber bread occured to a group of hilarious students in my class who excelled at baking, and were given the enrichment project to investigate how leveaning agents were affected by temperature, humidity and time. What you see here is the outcome of too much time in a proofer that was too hot. Rubber bread.
A student with a fixed mindset may get discouraged, fear judgement or worry about the resulting grade. These students laughed with me, took funny pictures, put them on twitter, and reflected on what went wrong. They are all now in my Advanced Culinary class, and they are even more PHENOMENAL bakers, and their expertise in leavening agents is unmatched.
The rubber bread teaches us much more than the perfect loaf ever could.