This link has been bookmarked by 183 people and liked by 1 people. It was first bookmarked on 16 Aug 2015, by Jenny Luca.
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10 Sep 17
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06 Sep 17
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attributes that can be improved through effort.
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belief that one can become smarter.
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disconcerting
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need is a “mindset” adjustment.
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kids tend to do better in the future if they believe that how well they did in the past was primarily a result of effort.
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even though genuine excitement about (and proficiency at) learning rises when they’re brought into the process, invited to search for answers to their own questions and to engage in extended projects.
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rarely bother to ask whether the curriculum is meaningful, whether the pedagogy is thoughtful, or whether the assessment of students’ learning is authentic
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All we have to do is get kids to adopt the right attitude, to think optimistically about their ability to handle whatever they’ve been given to do. Even if, quite frankly, it’s not worth doing.
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praising children for their effort carries problems of its own
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A substantial research literature has shown that the kids typically end up less interested in whatever they were rewarded or praised for doing, because now their goal is just to get the reward or praise.
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most salient feature of a positive judgment
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it’s a judgment
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unconditional support
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information about how they’ve done without a judgment attached — is preferable to any sort of praise.
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If students are preoccupied with how well they’re doing in school, then their interest in what they’re doing may suffer.
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more likely to give themselves an excuse for screwing up
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too much emphasis on performance undermines intellectual engagement
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paying so much attention to personality and attitudes that we overlook how profoundly the social environment affects what we do and who we are.
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would rather fault their victims for failing to pull themselves up by their mindset.
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portraying it as an overdue endorsement of the value of old-fashioned toil
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underappreciated value of hard work and the perils of making things too easy for kids,
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the self-esteem movement led parents to think they could hand their children self-esteem on a silver platter by telling them how smart and talented they are.”
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By golly, with enough effort, I can do this!” but “Why the hell should anyone have to do this?”
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no mindset is a magic elixir that can dissolve the toxicity of structural arrangements.
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28 Jun 17cathywint
A critique of Dweck's mindset theory - it recognises that the theory is based on research (as we discussed in class) but highlights the conservative nature of the theory, in particular the role of the individual rather than the impact of society.
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19 May 17Bonnie Jeansonne
The perils of “Growth Mindset” education: Why we’re trying to fix our kids when we should be fixing the system https://t.co/Xc3HJP8nsO
— Dan Scratch (@DanScratch03) May 19, 2017 -
16 May 17
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Kids tend to fare better when they regard intelligence and other abilities not as fixed traits that they either have or lack, but as attributes that can be improved through effort.
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even though genuine excitement about (and proficiency at) learning rises when they’re brought into the process, invited to search for answers to their own questions and to engage in extended projects.
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15 May 17
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Unfortunately, even some people who are educators would rather convince students they need to adopt a more positive attitude than address the quality of the curriculum (what the students are being taught) or the pedagogy (how they’re being taught it).
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forgettable facts into short-term memory.
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Even if, quite frankly, it’s not worth doing.
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information about how they’ve done without a judgment attached
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Until those arrangements have been changed, mindset will get you only so far. And too much focus on mindset discourages us from making such changes.
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Alfie Kohn
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14 May 17
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what students most need is a “mindset” adjustment.
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The most common bit of concrete advice offered by Dweck and others enamored of the growth mindset is to praise kids for their effort (“You tried really hard”) rather than for their ability (“You’re really smart”) in order to get them to persevere.
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Kids tend to fare better when they regard intelligence and other abilities not as fixed traits that they either have or lack, but as attributes that can be improved through effort.
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It’s not just the habit of attributing your failure to being stupid that holds you back, but also the habit of attributing your success to being smart. Regardless of their track record, kids tend to do better in the future if they believe that how well they did in the past was primarily a result of effort.
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the quality of education itself can be improved
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All we have to do is get kids to adopt the right attitude, to think optimistically about their ability to handle whatever they’ve been given to do. Even if, quite frankly, it’s not worth doing.
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“If you’re complimenting me just for trying hard, I must really be a loser.”)
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What kids actually need from us, along with nonjudgmental feedback and guidance, is unconditional support — the antithesis of a patronizing pat on the head for having jumped through our hoops.
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Even when a growth mindset doesn’t make things worse, it can help only so much if students have been led — by things like grades, tests, and, worst of all, competition — to become more focused on achievement than on the learning itself.
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The message of that tradition has always been to adjust yourself to conditions as you find them because those conditions are immutable; all you can do is decide on the spirit in which to approach them.
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we overlook how profoundly the social environment affects what we do and who we are.
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benefit from those barriers and would rather fault their victims for failing to pull themselves up by their mindset.
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05 May 17
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02 Feb 17
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23 Jan 17
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Kids tend to fare better when they regard intelligence and other abilities not as fixed traits that they either have or lack, but as attributes that can be improved through effort.
-
It’s not just the habit of attributing your failure to being stupid that holds you back, but also the habit of attributing your success to being smart.
-
Unfortunately, even some people who are educators would rather convince students they need to adopt a more positive attitude than address the quality of the curriculum (what the students are being taught) or the pedagogy (how they’re being taught it).
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But books, articles, TED talks, and teacher-training sessions devoted to the wonders of adopting a growth mindset rarely bother to ask whether the curriculum is meaningful, whether the pedagogy is thoughtful, or whether the assessment of students’ learning is authentic (as opposed to defining success merely as higher scores on dreadful standardized tests).
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But the first problem with this seductively simple script change is that praising children for their effort carries problems of its own, as several studies have confirmed: It can communicate that they’re really not very capable and therefore unlikely to succeed at future tasks. (“If you’re complimenting me just for trying hard, I must really be a loser.”)
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What kids actually need from us, along with nonjudgmental feedback and guidance, is unconditional support — the antithesis of a patronizing pat on the head for having jumped through our hoops.
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A 2010 study found that when students whose self-worth hinges on their performance face the prospect of failure, it doesn’t help for them to adopt a growth mindset. In fact, those who did so were even more likely to give themselves an excuse for screwing up — a strategy known as “self-handicapping” — as compared to those with the dreaded fixed mindset.
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Training them to think about effort more than ability does nothing to address the fact, confirmed by several educational psychologists, that too much emphasis on performance undermines intellectual engagement.
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21 Jan 17
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“grit” (a form of self-discipline involving long-term persistence)
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there’s something disconcerting about how the idea has been used — and about the broader assumption that what students most need is a “mindset” adjustment.
-
kids tend to do better in the future if they believe that how well they did in the past was primarily a result of effort.
-
even some people who are educators would rather convince students they need to adopt a more positive attitude than address the quality of the curriculum (what the students are being taught) or the pedagogy (how they’re being taught it)
-
praising children for their effort carries problems of its own, as several studies have confirmed: It can communicate that they’re really not very capable and therefore unlikely to succeed at future tasks.
-
The more serious concern, however, is that what’s really problematic is praise itself. It’s a verbal reward, an extrinsic inducement, and, like other rewards, is often construed by the recipient as manipulation. A substantial research literature has shown that the kids typically end up less interested in whatever they were rewarded or praised for doing, because now their goal is just to get the reward or praise.
-
What kids actually need from us, along with nonjudgmental feedback and guidance, is unconditional support — the antithesis of a patronizing pat on the head for having jumped through our hoops.
-
Even when a growth mindset doesn’t make things worse, it can help only so much if students have been led — by things like grades, tests, and, worst of all, competition — to become more focused on achievement than on the learning itself.
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Why, for example, do relatively few young women choose to study or work in the fields of math and science? Is it because of entrenched sexism and “the way the science career structure works”? Well, to someone sold on Dweck’s formula, the answer is no: It’s “all a matter of mindset.” We need only “shift widespread perceptions over to the ‘growth mindset’” — that is, to the perceptions of girls and women who are just trapped by their own faulty thinking. This is similar to the perspective that encourages us to blame a “culture of poverty” in the inner city rather than examine economic and political barriers — a very appealing explanation to those who benefit from those barriers and would rather fault their victims for failing to pull themselves up by their mindset.
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pronouncements that wouldn’t be out of place at the Republican National Convention or in a small-town Sunday sermon.
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But the real alternative to that isn’t a different attitude about oneself; it’s a willingness to go beyond individual attitudes, to realize that no mindset is a magic elixir that can dissolve the toxicity of structural arrangements.
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17 Nov 16Molly Myers
The perils of “Growth Mindset” education: Why we’re trying to fix our kids when we should be fixing the system https://t.co/M1uMai6RcQ #AbEd
The perils of “Growth Mindset” education: Why we’re trying to fix our kids when we should be fixing the system https://t.co/gjWnO0CoHw #AbEd
The perils of “Growth Mindset” education: Why we’re trying to fix our kids when we should be fixing the system https://t.co/Xc3HJP8nsO
The perils of “Growth Mindset” education: Why we’re trying to fix our kids when we should be fixing the system https://t.co/UqKSXhQrFI -
22 Sep 16
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sessions devoted to the wonders of adopting a growth mindset rarely bother to ask whether the curriculum is meaningful, whether the pedagogy is thoughtful, or whether the assessment of students’ learning is authentic (as opposed to defining success merely as higher scores on dreadfu
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28 Jul 16
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21 Jul 16
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06 Jul 16
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08 Jun 16
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Dweck’s basic thesis is supported by decades’ worth of good data.
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It’s not just the habit of attributing your failure to being stupid that holds you back, but also the habit of attributing your success to being smart.
-
Regardless of their track record, kids tend to do better in the future if they believe that how well they did in the past was primarily a result of effort.
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Dweck is a research psychologist, not an educator, so her inattention to the particulars of classroom assignments is understandable.
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would rather convince students they need to adopt a more positive attitude than address the quality of the curriculum
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or the pedagogy
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ooks, articles, TED talks, and teacher-training sessions devoted to the wonders of adopting a growth mindset rarely bother to ask whether the curriculum is meaningful, whether the pedagogy is thoughtful, or whether the assessment of students’ learning is authentic
-
All we have to do is get kids to adopt the right attitude, to think optimistically about their ability to handle whatever they’ve been given to do. Even if, quite frankly, it’s not worth doing.
-
praise kids for their effort (“You tried really hard”)
-
ather than for their ability (“You’re really smart”)
-
praising children for their effort carries problems of its own, as several studies have confirmed: It can communicate that they’re really not very capable
-
often construed by the recipient as manipulation.
-
-
our acceptance of a child comes with strings attached
-
researchers have found that just such a response — information about how they’ve done without a judgment attached — is preferable to any sort of praise.
-
f students are preoccupied with how well they’re doing in school, then their interest in what they’re doing may suffer.
-
A 2010 study found that when students whose self-worth hinges on their performance face the prospect of failure, it doesn’t help for them to adopt a growth mindset. In fact, those who did so were even more likely to give themselves an excuse for screwing up — a strategy known as “self-handicapping” — as compared to those with the dreaded fixed mindset.
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12 May 16
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02 May 16
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29 Apr 16
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19 Mar 16
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06 Mar 16
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05 Mar 16
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28 Jan 16Valerie Irvine
Food for though as always from @alfiekohn The perils of “Growth Mindset” education via @Salon #bcedchat #sd36learn http://t.co/hXPeCJkuI2
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26 Jan 16Nigel Robertson
Critique of telling kids to have a growth mindset.
critical thinking growth mindset carol dweck dweck education mindset
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24 Jan 16
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ut the first problem with this seductively simple script change is that praising children for their effort carries problems of its own, as several studies have confirmed: It can communicate that they’re really not very capable and therefore unlikely to succeed at future tasks. (“If you’re complimenting me just for trying hard, I must really be a loser.”)
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20 Jan 16
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But books, articles, TED talks, and teacher-training sessions devoted to the wonders of adopting a growth mindset rarely bother to ask whether the curriculum is meaningful, whether the pedagogy is thoughtful, or whether the assessment of students’ learning is authentic (as opposed to defining success merely as higher scores on dreadful standardized tests).
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18 Jan 16
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12 Jan 16Aaron Davis
"An awful lot of schooling still consists of making kids cram forgettable facts into short-term memory. And the kids themselves are seldom consulted about what they’re doing, even though genuine excitement about (and proficiency at) learning rises when they’re brought into the process, invited to search for answers to their own questions and to engage in extended projects. Outstanding classrooms and schools — with a rich documentary record of their successes — show that the quality of education itself can be improved. But books, articles, TED talks, and teacher-training sessions devoted to the wonders of adopting a growth mindset rarely bother to ask whether the curriculum is meaningful, whether the pedagogy is thoughtful, or whether the assessment of students’ learning is authentic (as opposed to defining success merely as higher scores on dreadful standardized tests).
"growth mindset alfie kohn carol dweck dweck alfiekohn education mindset
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By now, the growth mindset has approached the status of a cultural meme.
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Regardless of their track record, kids tend to do better in the future if they believe that how well they did in the past was primarily a result of effort.
But “how well they did” at what?
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even some people who are educators would rather convince students they need to adopt a more positive attitude than address the quality of the curriculum (what the students are being taught) or the pedagogy (how they’re being taught it).
-
An awful lot of schooling still consists of making kids cram forgettable facts into short-term memory. And the kids themselves are seldom consulted about what they’re doing, even though genuine excitement about (and proficiency at) learning rises when they’re brought into the process, invited to search for answers to their own questions and to engage in extended projects.
-
books, articles, TED talks, and teacher-training sessions devoted to the wonders of adopting a growth mindset rarely bother to ask whether the curriculum is meaningful, whether the pedagogy is thoughtful, or whether the assessment of students’ learning is authentic (as opposed to defining success merely as higher scores on dreadful standardized tests).
-
the first problem with this seductively simple script change is that praising children for their effort carries problems of its own, as several studies have confirmed: It can communicate that they’re really not very capable and therefore unlikely to succeed at future tasks. (“If you’re complimenting me just for trying hard, I must really be a loser.”)
-
what’s really problematic is praise itself. It’s a verbal reward, an extrinsic inducement, and, like other rewards, is often construed by the recipient as manipulation.
-
the most salient feature of a positive judgment is not that it’s positive but that it’s a judgment; i
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the series of Dweck’s studies on which she still relies to support the idea of praising effort, which she conducted with Claudia Mueller in the 1990s, included no condition in which students received nonevaluative feedback. Other researchers have found that just such a response — information about how they’ve done without a judgment attached — is preferable to any sort of praise.
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We need to attend to deeper differences: between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, and between “doing to” and “working with” strategies.
-
Dweck’s work nestles comfortably in a long self-help tradition, the American can-do, just-adopt-a-positive-attitude spirit.(“I think I can, I think I can…”) The message of that tradition has always been to adjust yourself to conditions as you find them because those conditions are immutable; all you can do is decide on the spirit in which to approach them. Ironically, the more we occupy ourselves with getting kids to attribute outcomes to their own effort, the more we communicate that the conditions they face are, well, fixed.
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It isn’t entirely coincidental that someone who is basically telling us that attitudes matter more than structures, or that persistence is a good in itself, has also bought into a conservative social critique. But why have so many educators who don’t share that sensibility endorsed a focus on mindset (or grit) whose premises and implications they’d likely find troubling on reflection?
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the real alternative to that isn’t a different attitude about oneself; it’s a willingness to go beyond individual attitudes, to realize that no mindset is a magic elixir that can dissolve the toxicity of structural arrangements. Until those arrangements have been changed, mindset will get you only so far. And too much focus on mindset discourages us from making such changes.
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11 Jan 16Sheri Edwards
"The perils of “Growth Mindset” education: Why we’re trying to fix our kids when we should be fixing the system" https://t.co/DLxdIRqTGP
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04 Jan 16
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31 Dec 15
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10 Dec 15
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09 Dec 15
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29 Nov 15
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05 Nov 15
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19 Oct 15John Downes
"The perils of “Growth Mindset” education: Why we’re trying to fix our kids when we should be fixing the system
How a promising but oversimplified idea caught fire, then got coopted by conservative ideology
ALFIE KOHN" -
18 Oct 15
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16 Oct 15
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14 Oct 15
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12 Oct 15
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08 Oct 15
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05 Oct 15
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29 Sep 15
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27 Sep 15
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25 Sep 15
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23 Sep 15apanjabu
How a promising but oversimplified idea caught fire, then got coopted by conservative ideology
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22 Sep 15
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17 Sep 15eegschwind
How a promising but oversimplified idea caught fire, then got coopted by conservative ideology
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Shauna Hedgepeth
Interesting article combating the ease and effectiveness of striving for growth mindsetss...http://t.co/SmznyumIot #MTBoS
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14 Sep 15
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11 Sep 15
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10 Sep 15
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An awful lot of schooling still consists of making kids cram forgettable facts into short-term memory. And the kids themselves are seldom consulted about what they’re doing, even though genuine excitement about (and proficiency at) learning rises when they’re brought into the process, invited to search for answers to their own questions and to engage in extended projects. Outstanding classrooms and schools — with a rich documentary record of their successes — show that the quality of education itself can be improved. But books, articles, TED talks, and teacher-training sessions devoted to the wonders of adopting a growth mindset rarely bother to ask whether the curriculum is meaningful, whether the pedagogy is thoughtful, or whether the assessment of students’ learning is authentic (as opposed to defining success merely as higher scores on dreadful standardized tests).
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09 Sep 15Kassandra Boyd
It's not enough just to praise effort - reform structures that hold students back. http://t.co/Rjm0iwclEu via @Salon
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08 Sep 15Andrew Derry
How a promising but oversimplified idea caught fire, then got coopted by conservative ideology
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The problem with sweeping, generic claims about the power of attitudes or beliefs isn’t just a risk of overstating the benefits but also a tendency to divert attention from the nature of the tasks themselves: How valuable are they, and who gets to decide whether they must be done?
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Unfortunately, even some people who are educators would rather convince students they need to adopt a more positive attitude than address the quality of the curriculum (what the students are being taught) or the pedagogy (how they’re being taught it).
-
praise kids for their effort (“You tried really hard”) rather than for their ability (“You’re really smart”)
-
But the first problem with this seductively simple script change is that praising children for their effort carries problems of its own, as several studies have confirmed: It can communicate that they’re really not very capable and therefore unlikely to succeed at future tasks.
-
what’s really problematic is praise itself
-
It’s a verbal reward, an extrinsic inducement, and, like other rewards, is often construed by the recipient as manipulation
-
Moreover, praise communicates that our acceptance of a child comes with strings attached: Our approval is conditional on the child’s continuing to impress us or do what we say.
-
We need to attend to deeper differences: between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, and between “doing to” and “working with” strategies.
-
If students are preoccupied with how well they’re doing in school, then their interest in what they’re doing may suffer.
-
A 2010 study found that when students whose self-worth hinges on their performance face the prospect of failure, it doesn’t help for them to adopt a growth mindset.
-
Even when a growth mindset doesn’t make things worse, it can help only so much if students have been led — by things like grades, tests, and, worst of all, competition — to become more focused on achievement than on the learning itself.
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And this brings us to the biggest blind spot of all — the whole idea of focusing on the mindsets of individuals.
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Ironically, the more we occupy ourselves with getting kids to attribute outcomes to their own effort, the more we communicate that the conditions they face are, well, fixed.
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But why have so many educators who don’t share that sensibility endorsed a focus on mindset (or grit) whose premises and implications they’d likely find troubling on reflection?
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I’m not suggesting we go back to promoting an innate, fixed, “entity” theory of intelligence and talent, which, as Dweck points out, can leave people feeling helpless and inclined to give up.
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07 Sep 15
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Mary Marks
How a promising but oversimplified idea caught fire, then got coopted by conservative ideology
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05 Sep 15
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04 Sep 15
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Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano
"How a promising but oversimplified idea caught fire, then got coopted by conservative ideology "
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02 Sep 15
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01 Sep 15
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31 Aug 15
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Unlike grit — which, as I’ve argued elsewhere, is driven more by conservative ideology than by solid research — Dweck’s basic thesis is supported by decades’ worth of good data.
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an extrinsic inducement,
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the most salient feature of a positive judgment is not that it’s positive but that it’s a judgment; i
-
along with nonjudgmental feedback and guidance, is unconditional support — the antithesis of a patronizing pat on the head for having jumped through our hoops.
-
information about how they’ve done without a judgment attached — is preferable to any sort of praise.
-
when we’re assured that it’s sufficient just to offer a different kind of carrot.
-
learning itself
-
too much emphasis on performance undermines intellectual engagement. Just as with praise, betting everything on a shift from ability to effort may miss what matters most.
-
Dweck’s work nestles comfortably in a long self-help tradition, the American can-do, just-adopt-a-positive-attitude spirit.(“I think I can, I think I can…”) The message of that tradition has always been to adjust yourself to conditions as you find them because those conditions are immutable; all you can do is decide on the spirit in which to approach them. Ironically, the more we occupy ourselves with getting kids to attribute outcomes to their own effort, the more we communicate that the conditions they face are, well, fixed.
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I’m not suggesting we go back to promoting an innate, fixed, “entity” theory of intelligence and talent, which, as Dweck points out, can leave people feeling helpless and inclined to give up.
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30 Aug 15
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28 Aug 15
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there’s something disconcerting about how the idea has been used
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assumption that what students most need
-
Dweck’s basic thesis is supported by decades’ worth of good data. It’s not just the habit of attributing your failure to being stupid that holds you back, but also the habit of attributing your success to being smart. Regardless of their track record, kids tend to do better in the future if they believe that how well they did in the past was primarily a result of effort.
-
The problem with sweeping, generic claims
-
short-term memory
-
Small wonder that this idea goes down so easily.
-
The most common bit of concrete advice offered by Dweck
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as several studies have confirmed:
-
It can communicate that they’re really not very capable and therefore unlikely to succeed at future tasks. (“If you’re complimenting me just for trying hard, I must really be a loser.”)
-
It’s a verbal reward, an extrinsic inducement, and, like other rewards, is often construed by the recipient as manipulation.
-
now their goal is just to get the reward or praise
-
rewarded or praised for doing
-
praise communicates that our acceptance of a child comes with strings attached:
-
Other researchers have found that just such a response — information about how they’ve done without a judgment attached — is preferable to any sort of praise.
-
those who did so were even more likely to give themselves an excuse for screwing up
-
too much emphasis on performance
-
Dweck’s work nestles comfortably in a long self-help tradition, the American can-do, just-adopt-a-positive-attitude spirit.(“I think I can, I think I can…”)
-
the conditions they face are, well, fixed
-
Having spent a few decades watching one idea after another light up the night sky and then flame out — in the field of education and in the culture at large — I realize this pattern often has less to do with the original (promising) idea than with the way it has been oversimplified and poorly implemented.
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or raised concerns about the “bunch o’ facts” traditionalism in schools.
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“By golly, with enough effort, I can do this!”
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someone who is basically telling us that attitudes matter more than structures,
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26 Aug 15adhernandez
How a promising but oversimplified idea caught fire, then got coopted by conservative ideology
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25 Aug 15Mike Ritzius
@mritzius Yes, that's what's brought to mind when the topic of fixed mindset comes up http://t.co/pFKxfXJ1p9 #satchat #edchat
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Lorri Carroll
The perils of “Growth Mindset” education: Why we’re trying to fix kids when we should be fixing the system http://t.co/asbe3X22qZ #isedchat
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24 Aug 15
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23 Aug 15
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An awful lot of schooling still consists of making kids cram forgettable facts into short-term memory. And the kids themselves are seldom consulted about what they’re doing, even though genuine excitement about (and proficiency at) learning rises when they’re brought into the process, invited to search for answers to their own questions and to engage in extended projects.
-
-
22 Aug 15
-
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What kids actually need from us, along with nonjudgmental feedback and guidance, is unconditional support — the antithesis of a patronizing pat on the head for having jumped through our hoops.
-
Other researchers have found that just such a response — information about how they’ve done without a judgment attached — is preferable to any sort of praise.
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Thus, the challenge for a teacher, parent, or manager is to consider a moratorium on offering verbal doggie biscuits, period. We need to attend to deeper differences: between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, and between “doing to” and “working with” strategies. Unfortunately, we’re discouraged from thinking about these more meaningful distinctions — and from questioning the whole carrot-and-stick model (of which praise is an example) — when we’re assured that it’s sufficient just to offer a different kind of carrot.
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Having spent a few decades watching one idea after another light up the night sky and then flame out — in the field of education and in the culture at large — I realize this pattern often has less to do with the original (promising) idea than with the way it has been oversimplified and poorly implemented
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Alas, Dweck not only has failed to speak out against, or distance herself from, this tendentious use of her ideas but has put a similar spin on them herself. She has allied herself with gritmeister Angela Duckworth and made Stossel-like pronouncements about the underappreciated value of hard work and the perils of making things too easy for kids, pronouncements that wouldn’t be out of place at the Republican National Convention or in a small-town Sunday sermon.
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Moreover, as far as I can tell, she has never criticized a fix-the-kid, ignore-the-structure mentality or raised concerns about the “bunch o’ facts” traditionalism in schools. Along with many other education critics, I’d argue that the appropriate student response to much of what’s assigned isn’t “By golly, with enough effort, I can do this!” but “Why the hell should anyone have to do this?” Dweck, like Duckworth, is conspicuously absent from the ranks of those critics.
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20 Aug 15
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stevestoneky
How a promising but oversimplified idea caught fire, then got coopted by conservative ideology
-
-
Unfortunately, even some people who are educators would rather convince students they need to adopt a more positive attitude than address the quality of the curriculum (what the students are being taught) or the pedagogy
-
But books, articles, TED talks, and teacher-training sessions devoted to the wonders of adopting a growth mindset rarely bother to ask whether the curriculum is meaningful, whether the pedagogy is thoughtful, or whether the assessment of students’ learning is authentic (as opposed to defining success merely as higher scores on dreadful standardized tests).
-
Small wonder that this idea goes down so easily. All we have to do is get kids to adopt the right attitude, to think optimistically about their ability to handle whatever they’ve been given to do. Even if, quite frankly, it’s not worth doing.
-
A substantial research literature has shown that the kids typically end up less interested in whatever they were rewarded or praised for doing, because now their goal is just to get the reward or praise.
-
it’s more about controlling than encouraging. Moreover, praise communicates that our acceptance of a child comes with strings attached: Our approval is conditional on the child’s continuing to impress us or do what we say.
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What kids actually need from us, along with nonjudgmental feedback and guidance, is unconditional support — the antithesis of a patronizing pat on the head for having jumped through our hoops.
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Unfortunately, we’re discouraged from thinking about these more meaningful distinctions — and from questioning the whole carrot-and-stick model (of which praise is an example) — when we’re assured that it’s sufficient just to offer a different kind of carrot.
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to become more focused on achievement than on the learning itself.
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that too much emphasis on performance undermines intellectual engagement. Just as with praise, betting everything on a shift from ability to effort may miss what matters most.
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the more we occupy ourselves with getting kids to attribute outcomes to their own effort, the more we communicate that the conditions they face are, well, fixed.
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We need only “shift widespread perceptions over to the ‘growth mindset’” — that is, to the perceptions of girls and women who are just trapped by their own faulty thinking. This is similar to the perspective that encourages us to blame a “culture of poverty” in the inner city rather than examine economic and political barriers — a very appealing explanation to those who benefit from those barriers and would rather fault their victims for failing to pull themselves up by their mindset.
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Moreover, as far as I can tell, she has never criticized a fix-the-kid, ignore-the-structure mentality or raised concerns about the “bunch o’ facts” traditionalism in schools.
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the appropriate student response to much of what’s assigned isn’t “By golly, with enough effort, I can do this!” but “Why the hell should anyone have to do this?”
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it’s a willingness to go beyond individual attitudes, to realize that no mindset is a magic elixir that can dissolve the toxicity of structural arrangements. Until those arrangements have been changed, mindset will get you only so far. And too much focus on mindset discourages us from making such changes.
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Margaret Simkin
http://t.co/cJPuHedjC1 Great read via @garystager by @alfiekohn: The perils of Growth Mindset cc @dougpete @coolcatteacher @zecool #edchat
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19 Aug 15
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Steve Fulton
.@alfiekohn offers a challenge to “growth mindset.” Are we teaching Ss just to persevere and become complacent? http://t.co/JDUBKRkoHH
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Justin Medved
One response to @alfiekohn article http://t.co/8VLtjmBAUg . https://t.co/FjuQtIJzPw Thoughts? @acampbell99 @avivaloca #onted #ontedleaders
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18 Aug 15
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