Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck pioneered work that showed resilience and effort in learning were largely determined by one’s mindset. Dweck divided mindsets into two categories: a fixed mindset - the belief that intelligence is immutable and an inborn talent; and the growth mindset - the belief that the human mind is flexible and a person can expand its capabilities through effort.
A fixed mindset is destructive both to underachievers and overachievers in educational settings. Underachievers are cowed by the belief they just weren’t born with the ability in (insert name of any subject) and thus interpret the normal frustrations of learning a new subject as evidence of their deficiencies. Overachievers feel pressure to maintain their self-image based on intellectual capability. If their assignments are critiqued or if they hit an inevitable learning road block they can lose heart because their self-image of being gifted is punctured.
Recall from another blog that student-centered learning is more effective when informing students of the benefits of an active learning classroom. Likewise students’ resilience in courses is strengthened when they are told to expect that A) learning new material is difficult, and B) that intelligence isn’t fixed or limited and can grow. This message gives them the confidence to push through and master new learning material. It also has been shown to help address equity disparities in the classroom. I will address the growth mindset pedagogical approach in the context of equity in a later post.
Jo Boaler’s 2019 book Limitless Mind moves mindset research into secondary and higher education classrooms with research-based approaches.
“Anxiety in any subject area,” she writes, “has a negative impact on the functioning of the brain.”
Boaler, a Stanford education professor, also bases her approach on new research on neuroplasticity and learning styles. Brain scans show how the brain learns new information and the findings challenge past pedagogical assumptions. She critiques “elitists” who take pride in low success rates in their classrooms. “Unfortunately,” she writes, “our schools, colleges, businesses, and culture have, for hundreds of years, been built around the idea that some people can and some people can’t” learn. Yet research shows that ‘brains were literally growing new connections and pathways as … adults studied and learned, and when the pathways were no longer needed, they faded away.” Mistakes and struggle are an inevitable part of learning. In my courses I prefer learning journals, autobiographical essays, and critical thinking case study applications to quizzes and tests that reward memorization and create stress. I found when I used quizzes and tests in earlier days even prepared students could overthink themselves into a wrong answer. That was true in my own educational experience as well.
The brain grows in three ways, Boaler writes. First, as one learns, new pathways are created and become stronger. Second, preexisting pathways also strengthen. Third, the new pathways begin to connect.
Although Boaler is a math educator, she presents applications for classroom instruction and assignments across disciplines.
Bottom line, she advocates using a multi-dimensional approach in addition to using the growth mindset. Not everyone learns the same way. But in addition, more than one part of the brain is involved in learning. For example, if the different parts processing symbols such as words and numbers can communicate with the parts processing visual and spatial information, learning is enhanced. Words, tables, graphs, movement, and touch can all play an important role in stimulating new pathways including “attention, memory, reasoning, communication and visualization.”
Suggested multi-dimensional assignments
Multi-dimension assignments can include having students make visual representations of ideas, and writing narrative stories to illustrate course themes. The latter could include traditional reading and analysis paired with creating a graph, finding a music video that connects to course themes, creating a video, or a PowerPoint presentation, and even a work of visual art.
In addition, group discussions and debates she suggests are already part of many of our department classes. Another example is having students explain what a text author might be feeling. Bailer mentions creating plays, such as our colleague Professor Jim Walsh has students create. She writes, “Such multi-modal thinking creates the opportunity for brain communication and development." Using a multi-modal approach may mean fewer assignments as students use different means to address issues in greater depth, or fewer questions within an assignment.
In my American Political System course, I have students find a video that connects to current US political polarization or ways to lessen or overcome it. It always inspires thoughtful accompanying essays. It’s also good to find students still connect with John Lennon and Marvin Gaye even as they introduce me to new musical artists I am unfamiliar with.
Another approach I adapted from this book was to provide an answer to an assignment and then ask students to explain the reasoning for that answer. This was for an American Political System assignment about the ethics of US drone strikes that kill many more civilians than terrorists. The first iteration of the assignment asked them to evaluate contending perspectives from political philosophy as applied to a case study of a Denver teen killed in a strike. It also asked how each philosophy would reason to its answer. I often used this assignment as a learning goals measure for CLAS core course reports. The students often got the answer right, but roughly 35 percent tracked fully on the reasoning. This subtle shift in Fall 2020 of giving the answer and asking students to explain the reasoning raised comprehension to around to around 65 percent. For spring 2021 I’ve revised the presentation of the philosophies to make the reasoning more comprehensible in addition to retaining the revised assignment.
I discuss other aspects of my approach to different learning modalities in my post about using “maker” assignments in the online classroom.