Growth Mindset
Whakataukī | Proverb
"Kia kaha, kia mÄia, kia manawanui"
Be strong, be brave, be steadfast
Growth Mindset aligns with perseverance and resilience. When students believe abilities can grow through effort, they persist through challenges, embrace mistakes, and achieve more.
Definition
The belief that abilities and intelligence can be developed through effort, strategies, and help from others. Contrasts with fixed mindset (abilities are innate and unchangeable).
Key Theorist
This concept was developed by:
- Carol Dweck - Growth Mindset research
Research Evidence
Effect Size: d = 0.19
Dweck's research shows that students with growth mindset:
- Show greater resilience when facing challenges
- Achieve higher academic performance
- Embrace mistakes as learning opportunities
- Persist longer when tasks are difficult
- View effort as path to mastery, not sign of weakness
Fixed vs Growth Mindset
Fixed Mindset
- Believes intelligence is fixed
- Avoids challenges
- Gives up easily
- Sees effort as fruitless
- Ignores feedback
- Feels threatened by others' success
- Views mistakes as failures
Growth Mindset
- Believes intelligence can grow
- Embraces challenges
- Persists through obstacles
- Sees effort as path to mastery
- Learns from feedback
- Finds lessons in others' success
- Views mistakes as learning
Cultural Connections
Growth Mindset aligns with MÄori values:
- Ako - Continuous learning and teaching
- Perseverance - Kia kaha, kia mÄia, kia manawanui
- Resilience - Overcoming challenges with strength
- Collective support - Learning with help from others (whanaungatanga)
How We Apply This in Te Kete Ako
Growth Mindset is embedded throughout our resources:
- Feedback focuses on effort and process, not just ability
- Mistakes are framed as learning opportunities
- Resources celebrate "yet" - "I can't do this YET"
- Activities emphasize growth and improvement
- Students learn about brain plasticity
- Challenges are presented as opportunities to grow
Our resources help students develop growth mindset by praising effort, normalizing mistakes, and showing that abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work.
Application Examples
- Praising effort over ability ("You worked hard" not "You're smart")
- Teaching about brain plasticity and neuroplasticity
- Embracing mistakes as learning opportunities
- Using "yet" language ("I can't do this yet")
- Celebrating growth and improvement
- Sharing stories of persistence and resilience
Classroom Application
Use growth mindset principles to reshape the language and culture of your classroom. Focus praise on effort and strategy, not ability. Celebrate mistakes as learning opportunities. Next step: introduce a "learning from mistakes" protocol ā ask students to share one thing that went wrong and what they discovered from it.
- Replace "you're so smart" with "I can see the effort you put in"
- Display the word "yet" prominently ā "I can't do this yet"
- Design tasks with productive struggle built in
- Share your own learning journey and challenges with students
Puna KÅrero ā Sources
Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York: Random House.
Dweck, C. S. (2010). Even geniuses work hard. Educational Leadership, 68(1), 16ā20.
Blackwell, L. S., Trzesniewski, K. H., & Dweck, C. S. (2007). Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition. Child Development, 78(1), 246ā263.