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Growth mindset (i18n)
Course: Growth mindset (i18n) > Unit 3
Lesson 2: The growth mindsetWhat is growth mindset?
What is growth mindset?
Thinky Pinky has two friends, Sam and Mia.
Sam always had gotten good grades on his math tests and felt like he was good at math. One day, he was sitting in math class and realized he was struggling. "Struggling in math? No way! This can’t be!" thought Sam. "I'm good in math, right?"
Sam started to get frustrated and thought to himself, “I am not good at math. There is no use in studying. I’m never going to get it.” Then, Sam stopped studying.
Mia never really had considered herself a math person. She'd always thought that Sam was better at math. On the same day that Sam was struggling, Mia was struggling as well. She wanted to give up. She wanted to run away and never have to do math again. In her frustration, she yelled, “I QUIT!”
Mia’s friend, Liz, was surprised by Mia’s frustration. Liz reminded Mia that it takes time and practice for the neurons in your brain to learn how to work together. She said, “Give your brain some time to learn this!”
Instead of giving up, Mia continued to practice and make a few mistakes. She looked at her mistakes and thought, “I got this wrong now, but I’m going to learn from my mistake and get it correct next time.” Mia continued studying and started to notice that—slowly but surely—it was getting easier as her brain formed the new connections it needed to solve the math problems.Mia and Liz also became study buddies. They do a lot of things together.
1. They ask for help.
2. They go in for tutoring.
3. They view mistakes as learning opportunities.
Growth mindset vs. fixed mindset
In part 1 of this activity, Sam and Mia had different experiences when learning a difficult concept in math.
Sam believed that if he couldn’t do it immediately, then he would not ever be able to do it. Mia believed that with the right learning strategies, such as giving herself time to learn and seeking help from Liz and her teacher, she would be able to learn.
Sam is not setting up his brain to grow because he doesn’t believe that his brain can grow, but Mia does believe her brain can grow!
Mia is exercising something called growth mindset.
The growth mindset is the belief that you can grow your brain and that your intelligence grows with effort and the right learning strategies.
Sam is exercising something called fixed mindset.
The fixed mindset is the belief that you cannot grow your brain and that if you can’t do or understand something immediately, you will never get it.
Want to join the conversation?
- I think that mia is good with a study buddy because she is getting better now and Sam should get a study buddy to see if that wold make him better if he has somone to practice with.(49 votes)
- Sam should be like mia nd not give up.(2 votes)
- we all act like mia, liz and sam each day at different times we act like one of these people. in conclusion, we all get mad sometimes, no one is perfect so we all have to do our part and help each other out. Am I right or wrong?(23 votes)
- I agree. You're right, and that's how we learn.(6 votes)
- Mia did way better because she actually studied and Sam just quit. Hopefully, Sam can end up like Mia. :)(23 votes)
- why do people give up when things are hard.(9 votes)
- Because when we have any kind of hard situation at that time, we have to path to go first is to give up from a hard situation, second is to try to solve that by doing hard work and self-assessment, then improve that, so first path looks like an easy(11 votes)
- why did mia never study even before she got frustrated(13 votes)
- Nah but lets be honest who Study's?💀(1 vote)
- Is our brain the most important thing to us?(10 votes)
- Yes, Sometimes.(2 votes)
- Could Mia come to Sam and just say that you aren't good at everything?(7 votes)
- I'm pretty sure the important message here is that you can become better at most things, not to convince Sam that he is bad, haha.(4 votes)
- Mia did better on the quiz because she wanted to quit but her friend said to keep going even if it is really,really,really hard you still don't give up!(7 votes)
- I think that Mia was intelligent but she have a fixed mindset and she always think that she can not do anything in math.(6 votes)
- that is so right(2 votes)
- mia did better because she didn't give up and had a friend to help her(6 votes)