OCR GCSE Psychology Delivery Guide Learner Resource 11

Learner Resource 11 – Encouraging a growth mindset

The following scenarios are examples of students who have adapted a fixed mindset. Read each scenario and imagine you are a teacher who is trying to encourage a change to a growth mindset. For each scenario explain what you would say to each student or what you would do. Try to use as many words as possible from the “Encouraging a growth mindset list” and as little as possible from the “Not encouraging a growth mindset list”.

Olivia aged 9 Olivia hates art! Her parents always discourage her from creative activities too because they also think she isn’t very good at it. Olivia has started to get upset when it is arts class, she feels embarrassed because she doesn’t think her pictures are as good as the other children’s.

What would you say to encourage Olivia to have a growth mindset?

Cory aged 14 Cory used to like P.E when he was younger but since he has gone to high school he has taken a disliking to it. He doesn’t enjoy watching sport like the other kids and has no interest in football like some of his friends, as he feels he doesn’t have good co-ordination. His parents would like him to get involved in more sports so he spends less time on his computer, but the less sport he plays the worse he feels he becomes.

What would you say to encourage Cory to have a growth mindset?

Version 1 1 © OCR 2017 Delivery Guide - Devlopment Isabell aged 5 Isabell takes disco world dancing classes and has recently entered a competition for her local area. She practiced really hard on her routines daily and was very nervous to compete in her first competition. Isabelle forgot her routine half way through and ran off the stage in tears. She now no longer wants to take part in her dance classes because she thinks she is stupid and not good enough.

What would you say to encourage Isabell to have a growth mindset?

Words that promote growth mindset Words that do not promote growth mindset 1. Wow! Smart 2. Look at that! Cute 3. Tell me about it. Great 4. Show me more. Fast 5. How did you do that? Best 6. Let‛s see what you did. Pretty 7. How do you feel about it? Good 8. How did you figure that out? Quick 9. I see that you ______. (be specific) Clever 10. That looks like it took a lot of effort. Beautiful 11. How many ways did you try it before it Lovely turned out the way you wanted it? Intelligent 12. What do you plan to do next? Right 13. That looks like it took so much work. Amazing 14. Are you pleased with what you did? The best Better than

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