Book Review: Mindsets in The Classroom
by Mary Cay Ricci
Ricci begins by distinguishing between the
concepts of fixed mindset and growth mindset: Fixed
mindset is the belief that a person is born with a
certain level of intelligence that can’t change.
Growth
mindset is an opposing belief that a person’s
intelligence can be developed through “persistence, effort, and a focus on
learning”. (3)
She then makes the important point that
neuroscience supports the notion of growth mindset in that recent brain-based
research confirms the concept of neuroplasticity or malleable intelligence –
that the human brain can change throughout a person’s life.
Unfortunately, students tend to move from a
growth mindset to a fixed mindset as they move to higher grades. According to Ricci, a fixed mindset is
damaging for students at both ends of the learning continuum: For at-risk
students, it is a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure; for gifted learners, it
results in “risk avoidance” as they shy away from difficult learning
challenges. Hence, the major goal of her book is to suggest ways that all school community members can promote
the belief in growth mindset.
In Chapter 2, Ricci explores several
strategies that school leaders can use to build a growth mindset school
culture:
- Have
teachers reflect upon and pre-assess their beliefs about intelligence;
- Educate teachers on the value of praising
student effort, not outcomes (which includes careful attention to both
verbal and non-verbal feedback);
- Educate
teachers, students, and parents about malleable intelligence;
- Monitor,
evaluate, and review school protocols with respect to growth mindset –
including establishment of PLCs and Look-Fors for student and teacher
behavior.
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| Classroom & school bulletin board displays such as this example can help create a growth mindset culture |
Chapter 4 explores the relationship between
critical thinking and growth mindset. Critical
thinking is a process that involves acquiring many higher order skills, including
such abilities as analyzing, classifying, and evaluating. Ricci argues that “… providing students with
many opportunities to develop their cognitive abilities through critical
thinking experiences impacts the child’s view of herself and contributes to a
growth mindset.” (57) Exposing students
to challenging learning opportunities helps them develop “determination,
motivation, and persistence” – growth mindset attitudes. (64)
Failure is the topic of Chapter 5. In order for students to develop a growth
mindset, teachers must promote two beliefs about failure:
- A
student’s own actions and behaviours, not external factors, lead him/her
to succeed or fail;
- Failure is an opportunity to reflect on errors as “data” that will help a student approach a future “challenging task in a new way or with more effort.” (69)
In
Chapter 6, Ricci provides helpful advice for parents so that they can support
the development of a growth mindset in their children:
- Build resilience in their children by modeling a flexible, glass-is-half-full mentality, especially when things don’t go well;
- Use growth mindset praise – “Always praise a child’s willingness to try, effort, patience, and practice. Do not attribute success to ‘being smart’ … but to hard work and perseverance.” (77)
- “Help children find their own niche” (78) by providing them with a variety of opportunities.
In Chapter 7, the question Can Gifted Education and A Growth Mindset Coexist is answered. The author’s answer is “Yes” but only if a
concept of giftedness “ that emphasizes potential and possibilities” is
adopted. (93) By avoiding the overuse of the term gifted, and instead, employing terms
such as “highly motivated” learner or “high-potential learner” (89), educators
will prevent students from adopting a fixed mindset mentality.
Chapter 8 presents a number of strategies for
helping students adopt a growth mindset.
Pre-assessment strategies include having students draw a picture of what
they think their brain looks like, and having students respond Yes or No to a series of statements such as Some kids are born smarter than others.
One suggested learning task is a Guess Box in
which a dried sponge is placed. First,
the students try to guess what object is in the box by asking questions that
identify its attributes. Once the
students determine that the object is a sponge, they are asked How is your brain like a sponge? Then,
after pouring water over the sponge so that the students can see it grow and
absorb water, the teacher says, “Every time you work hard and learn something
new your brain grows and gets stronger.” (110)
Building a neural network is also suggested as
an effective hands-on activity.
Students hold the ends of a string to represent the neural connections
that form when new learning occurs.
When it comes to introducing students to growth
mindset, the author recommends that students examine examples of fixed and
growth mindset in characters in books, movies and TV shows. Likewise, students can learn to view failure
from the standpoint of a growth mindset by exploring the lives of famous people
who, through determination and resilience, achieved success after initially
failing. Finally, students can create concept placemats - collages of pictures which reflect growth.
- embed a focus on growth mindset in the school improvement plan;
- create “fear-free zone” learning environments in classrooms (140); and
- create “Look fors” that would demonstrate that students have acquired growth mindsets
