Building Resilience

for School & Life

Success
A presentation by Dr.
Bruce Ferguson of Sick
Kids Hospital

MINDSET
How can we help
students WANT to
learn?

Some Questions:
What kinds of attitudes and
behaviours hinder a students
learning?
What challenges do many students
have within the classroom?
Why do some kids refuse to do
ANY work?
Why do some kids refuse your
help?
Etc.?????

Carol S. Dweck
(Prof of Pyschology at
Stanford)
She says to START WHERE
THEY ARE
They are doing what they can
with what they havewhat
they believe determines their
performance.
There are 2 kinds of
personality mindsets: fixed
and growth

Fixed Mindset

Believe they are just the way they are

Avoid challenges
Get blocked by obstacles
Avoid effort and hard work
Ignore criticism valid or not
Feel threatened by the success of
others
If they have to WORK at something,
that is evidence that they arent smart

Growth Mindset
Believe they can learn and
improve
Embrace Challenges
Persist even with setbacks
See effort as useful for growth
Accept and learn from criticism
Inspired by successes of others

In school, FIXED
MINDSETS:
are concerned with how smart they are
(whether they have been told they are
smart or not)
prefer tasks they can already do well or
take the easy way out
avoid tasks where they may make
mistakes and not look smart
avoid efforts because they think it is
connected to failure
Want neat and clean answers

In school, GROWTH
MINDSETS:
believe in an "expandable" or "growth"
theory of intelligence
want to challenge themselves
want to increase their abilities, even if
they fail at first
will try because they believe effort is a
positive thing
dont mind working through confusions or
muddy areas

Dwecks Study:
8-week intervention program
Control group learned study skills
Another group had study skills +
how to build the brain how it is
a muscle to grow and use
In just two monthsstudents
from the 2nd group, compared to
the control group, showed
marked improvement in grades

Growth can be
taught/learned?
Study skills and learning
skills are inert until
theyre powered by an
active ingredient.
Students may know how
to study, but wont want
to if they believe their
efforts are futile.

So, how can we

encouarge a growth
In the same way you wouldnt
mindset?
call a student stupid or
dumb, telling a student s/he
is smart or intelligent
promotes a fixed mindset.
Help students connect efforts
to their achievement (AFL)
which promotes a growth
mindset.
Continually praise efforts.