Growth Mindset, Essay Example

Motivated students are those who have a belief that their capabilities can be developed by learning and through their own effort and not those who think that they have a fixed intelligence. Intelligence can be seen to be developed and that the brain has a potential for change and growth throughout one’s lifetime   students who believe that they have a fixed intelligence show a little or no change in achievement and they are said to have a fixed mindset while those who believe that intelligence is developed through learning showed greater achievement since they have a growth mindset.

The fixed mindsets works to limit one’s achievement since it has a rule that stands during learning: Look Smart at all costs (Carol 2). The students with a fixed mindset do a task to make them smart and usually avoid learning new ideas. They are not enthusiastic as those of growth mindset since they do not work in a situation that they feel they would not look smart. The rules being hold in a fixed mindset includes; no making of mistakes, no working hard and if the students with this fixed mindset makes mistakes, there is no need to make corrections. These students usually see mistakes as lack of ability in doing that particular task. They believe that if really they were intelligent then they could not have failed. This can refer to a case where there is lack of confidence in the talented students. They also think that working hard shows that they are not capable and smart. When they make a mistake they regard it as a setback and in their fixed mindset they don’t pay attention to what is supposed to be the right answer for what wronged them. This results into poor performance.

According to (Carol 2), the students with a growth mindset have a goal of learning since they feel and believe that one’s abilities can be developed. For them learning new things are far much important than getting best grades and usually through this they get encouraged and motivated to acquire achievement. There are also three rules that arise in the growth mindset and through them students reach their goals. Firstly, they take on challenges which enable them to learn from the task. They prefer the tasks that make them to stretch their abilities to enhance learning of new ideas. Secondly, they usually work harder in doing a task and become better at it. They see working hard as a road to success. Lastly, they hold up in making corrections where they had went wrong. Disappointment on their poor performance makes them to work even harder and try on new strategies in their next time. They sought out on new knowledge and make them achieve good grades.

In my own experience, I lie in the category of a growth mindset. I usually get focused on my efforts and try out new strategies to enable me get motivated in whatever task I am doing. In my early classes, my performance wasn’t that admirable but through the praise of my efforts and through my hardworking, I was able to develop a growth mindset. I became eager in meeting new challenges and through them I was able to learn something. This made me to perform better unlike those who had received intelligence praises and adopted a fixed mindset. They didn’t want to meet challenging tasks where they could learn from but insisted on only the work that could make them look smart. Through my growth mindset and the praise of my process by the teachers, I was able to use my efforts and make right choices. This made me confident and invested my time in learning. My low achievement turned to be high through the increased motivation I had gotten.

Work Cited

Carol Dweck. Boosting Achievement with Messages that Motivate. Canada: Canadian Education Association, 47 no 2, Spr. 2007.