The Stanford Challenge

In 2007, Carol Dweck, a professor of Psychology at Stanford University and also the author of a book called "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success", did a podcast on a study she did comparing growth mindset and fixed mindset. It was an eight session workshop where some got study skills for the fixed mindset and the rest got study skills and the growth mindset lesson for the growth mindset. The students who got the growth mindset learned to use their brain as a muscle, to open their minds, and made connections in which they learned alot. This groups' grades improved and teachers could point out who went to the growth mindset lessons. The ones who got just the study skills didn't learn as much and mainly learned to memorize.

Another example of the growth mindset was a race car driver tried the growth mindset lessons and it helped him out on the track during races. He said that the races lasted for hours and every mistake on the track can cost a race or a life. The growth mindset lessons helped him to not make mistakes and when he did make a mistake it also taught him to deal with the mistakes and handle them the best way possible. This made a big difference in his driver because the main difference between a winning driver and a losing driver is their mistakes and how they deal with them. The growth mindset helped with this and improved his driving.

Well i wish that i could participate in the Stanford challenge because i would love some growth mindset lessons because i think they would be extremely useful to me. I probably won't get this opportunity but it seems like such a good thing to learn. I think it would open my mind instead of just learning how to memorize i might actually learn more of the material given to me. As far as being a teacher this would greatly help my teaching. If students could learn growth mindset it would open up alot of possibilities in the classroom as a teacher. We could do so much more and learn so much more as a class. I am not a big fan of memorization and i always had a problem connecting things and this seems like the answer to all that. If we could get students to think outside the box and use their minds as a muscle, always growing and strengthening, this would be a great accomplishment in the field of education.