Stanmore Mindset: Obstacle or opportunity? You have the opportunity to… On hearing this, would your interest be hooked? Yes! Maybe. Doubtful. Never! An “opportunity” is anything that provides us with a chance to change our circumstances for the better. Put like this, it would seem a straightforward choice for anyone. Realistically, though, many of the stronger grades, exhibit greater resilience opportunities life throws in our direction in the face of adversity, and experience will challenge us. Opportunities can school as a motivatingand engaging place. appear as problems that make life Students adopt a growth mindset when difficult. How we react to these adults focus praise on process rather situations and ultimately benefit from than ability. Interesngly, monetary rewardti them is determined by a multitude of has an undermining effect on intrinsic variables, including our mindset. motivation6. When sdenttu s expeiernce Mindset is just a set of beliefs, and the inherent satisfaction of the activity beliefs can be identified, challenged and itself, they will show intrinsically changed1.Early in the new millennium, motivated behaviour. If students are the work of Dr Carol S. Dweck doing the activity in order to attain some established the concept of implicit reward, such as grades, social theories of intelligence and argued that recognition or a ‘prize’—I’ll give you when people hold “growth”—as $50… take you to… if you achieve…— opposed to “fixed”—mindsets,2,3they they are extrinsically motivated. Their believe natural abilities and innate intrinsic drive is undermined when such talents do not necessarily translate to rewards are no longer promised. guaranteed success. Rather, they are seen as starting points for further ‘When students believe development through effort, seeking guidance, and trying out new strategies. intelligence and Individuals with a growth mindset capabilities can be believe learning comes from struggling with challenges that are an inevitable developed, they value element of new opportunities. Over time learning and mastery’ this mindset leads to an increased set Ms Linda Munns-Conry. of skills and competencies and enables Photo: Daryl Charles improved performance. There are many benefits of looking at In contrast, a fixed mindset leads people fear they don’t know. Therefore, they what we do though a “growth” lens, to fear failure because they perceive it may value getting the best grades over including enjoying life and learning as an illustration of their basic abilities. learning. This sets an individual up for without needing perfection; improving Opportunities can be seen as pass/fail disappointment by ignoring the content self-awareness and confidence in events, and the choice taken is to avoid of what is being learnt and the value of managing and learning from setbacks; challenges altogether. the process of learning itself. improving relationships and appreciation How does this translate to the When students hold a fixed mindset, of others; and equipping yourself classroom setting? Research shows school can be a threatening place. Since against anxiety and depression by fixed mindset students raise their hand a student with a fixed mindset believes seeing the value of growth rather than less in class, engage in fewer activities, their potential is capped, they avoid effortless perfection. receive lower grades, and take longer to challenges that test their abilities and Obstacle or opportunity? recover from setbacks4. Similarly, when can plateau in school rather than discover students believe intelligence is what is personally possible. Conversely, Mindsets are a choice. something you either have or don’t, their when students believe intelligence and Ms Linda Munns-Conry main goal in school is to demonstrate capabilities can be developed, they value Acting Deputy Head of Stanmore how clever they are—or hide what they learning and mastery5, can achieve (Students) References 1 https://blog.iqmatrix.com/unlock-opportunities. Sicinski, Adam. “How to Unlock Opportunities for Achieving Your Goals”. IQ Matrix. 2 Dweck, Carol S. 2006. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York: Random House. 3 http://mindsetscholarsnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/What-We-Know-About-Growth-Mindset.pdf, Centre for Advanced Study in the Behavioural Sciences at Stanford University, the Mindset Scholars Network 4 O’Rourke E.,Haimovitz K., Ballweber C., Dweck C., Popovi Z. “Brain points: A growth mindset incentive structure boosts persistence in an educational game”;Proceedings of the 32nd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems; Toronto, ON, Canada. 26 April–1 May 2014; New York, NY, USA: ACM; 2014. pp. 3339–3348. 5 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5836039 6 Ryan R.M., Deci E.L. “Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions”.Contemp. Educ. Psychol. 2000; 25:54–67. doi: 10.1006/ceps.1999.1020. 20| NEWS AUTUMN 2018| OPPORTUNITY