Literature Review: Growth

This is a review of Carol Dweck's discussant titled, Growth, that was published by the British Journal of Educational Psychology in 2015.  This article was written to reflect on questions about growth mindsets and discuss recent research findings.

Dweck introduces the importance of measuring and rewarding student growth so that their learning can be appreciated.  School takes up many years of a person's life and the hope is that at the end of schooling, students are prepared for the expectations in the real world.  Dweck argues that in order to prepare a student, we must understand motivation for growth and how educators affect student motivation (Dweck, 2015, p. 242).

Dweck implores educators to never forget the psychology of the student, especially when education is driven by statistical models of data. She argues that educators should not simply rely on large data samples, but on smaller, focused studies that measure student growth mindsets and goals while paying attention to the students' feelings, thoughts, actions and outcomes.   She states that understanding the psychology around learning helps educators design effective interventions (Dweck, 2015, p. 243).

Some students believe in a growth mindset, or that their abilities can change, whereas some believe their abilities are fixed.  Some students value hard work while others value looking smart.  Educating students on how their abilities can change and how hard work is something to celebrate has been shown to improve student achievement in all students, however it has the biggest impact on students who are at-risk or low achieving students (Dweck, 2015, p. 243).

To support the previous argument, Dweck examines a study in which she teamed up with the University of Washington to create a math game that awards points based on effort, using strategies, and persistence instead of answering correctly and quickly.  She found that students who played this game showed more sustained effort than students who played a traditional math game.  She also found that although advanced students played the traditional game longer, it was the lower achieving students who played the effort based game longer, showing greater persistence.  Dweck concludes that the lower achieving students showed more interest because it was a game they could win.  Therefore, growth based activities can level the educational playing field (Dweck, 2015, p. 244).

The last point the Dweck makes in this article is the importance of a teacher's mindset.  If a teacher has a fixed mindset, then he or she is more likely to blame students for low achievement.  If a teacher displays a growth mindset, he or she is more able to instill growth in students and apply problem solving skills to find the correct intervention for a struggling student (Dweck, 2015, p. 244).

Implications to my study:

            I chose this article to review because I think it is important to review some of Dweck's writings.  Carol Dweck is the originator of what we refer to as growth mindset.  There are thousands of resources now available that pertain to growth mindset and my earlier blog posts refer to growth mindset or refer to similar motivation strategies that improve student achievement. 

            I think that it's also important that Dweck provides so much follow up in the research behind growth mindset, as it maintains the reliability behind the method.  Her argument about how important it is for educators to have a growth mindset themselves is one that sticks with me.  As a special education teacher, everyday is a new challenge to provide the right interventions for each individual student and it requires constant problem solving applications. 

            The growth based game that she developed with the University in Washington is phenomenal and I'd like to share the findings with my students.  I think it's important to ask students (and adults for that matter), "What if the person who persevered the most is declared the winner?" and "How would you do in a similar competition?"  I also think that this application could be paired with case studies of successful people who refused to quit.  In my study, I am going to teach lessons on growth mindset and this article not only supports the reasons why, but also gives me an example to share with my students. 

References:

Dweck, C. S. (2015). Growth. British Journal Of Educational Psychology, 85(2), 242-245. doi:10.1111/bjep.12072