2016 Dustin Franz for Education Week Madison Reid, a student in a combined 2nd and 3rd grade classroom, leads a discussion on good listening with her classmates during a morning session at Cleveland’s Wade Park Elementary School. Such classroom exercises are part of Cleveland’s districtwide social-emotional learning plan. GROWTH MINDSET EDITOR’s NOTE CONTenTS Commentary An emphasis on non-cognitive skills in 11 Growth Mindset, Revisited schools has spurred efforts to instill 2 Tracking Students’ Emotions and Mindsets Beyond Growth Mindset: growth mindsets in the classroom. In this 13 Creating Classroom Opportunities Spotlight, read how schools are embracing In Math, Positive Mindset May 4 for Meaningful Struggle social-emotional learning, nurturing Prime Students’ Brains growth mindsets, and creating classroom 15 Why a ‘Growth Mindset’ Won’t Work 6 Nurturing Growth Mindsets: opportunities for meaningful struggle. Six Tips From Carol Dweck 7 Caution Urged on Measuring Social-Emotional Skills Spotlight On Growth Mindset / edweek.org 2 Published January 13, 2016, in Education Week’s Special Report on Extending the Digital Reach Tracking Students’ Emotions and Mindsets By Benjamin Herold he race is on to provide stu- dents with personalized learn- ing experiences based on their individual emotions, cognitive processes, “mindsets,” and Tcharacter and personality traits. Academic researchers, for example, are busy developing computerized tutor- ing systems that gather information on students’ facial expressions, heart rate, posture, pupil dilation, and more. Those data are then analyzed for signs of stu- dent engagement, boredom, or confusion, leading a computer avatar to respond with encouragement, empathy, or maybe a helpful hint. “The idea is that emotions have a pow- erful influence on cognition,” said Sidney D’Mello, an assistant professor of com- puter science and psychology at the Uni- versity of Notre Dame, in Indiana. The increasing power and affordability of eye- tracking, speech-recognition, and other skills, but also curiosity, perseverance, experiences that are customized for each technologies have made it possible for re- and a mindset that mistakes are powerful individual student’s cognitive strengths searchers to investigate those connections learning opportunities. and weaknesses. more widely and deeply, he said. Ideally, the software would be able to Privacy concerns and continuing de- “Ten years ago, there were things you recognize each student’s strengths and bate about the appropriate use of such could do in a lab that you couldn’t do in the weaknesses across each of those domains, technologies for schools in addressing messiness of the real world,” D’Mello said. then provide a steady stream of custom- character, mindset, and affect will help “Now, you can get a reasonable proxy of a ized problems based in part on such fac- shape what happens next. student’s heart rate from a webcam.” tors as a student’s capacity to keep trying But district leaders such as Brien Still, widely available classroom appli- to solve new challenges, said Matthew Hodges, the executive director of K-12 cations of such work might be a decade or Peterson, the group’s co-founder and CEO. schools for the 28,000-student Colorado more away. For now, though, the MIND Research Springs School District 11 are eager for More prevalent now are digital resourc- Institute gauges mindset and character new resources to help personalize student es that seek to measure and support the traits primarily at the aggregate level, learning, based on more than just aca- development and self-identification of such based on laboratory research and analysis demic ability. “noncognitive competencies” as self-man- of user data about the “typical” 2nd grader. “A digital tool that understands what it agement, perseverance, and a “growth Other vendors, meanwhile, are wres- is the teacher wants all students to know, mindset” that recognizes skills can im- tling with the opposite challenge. Prince- and knows how each student thinks and prove with effort. The U.S. Department of ton, N.J.-based startup Mindprint Learn- learns, and gives the teacher ideas on how Education’s new National Education Tech- ing, for example, uses a battery of online to present the material differently would nology Plan, for example, officially calls for cognitive assessments to provide highly be gigantic,” Hodges said. more work to develop such tools. customized profiles of how individual stu- Organizations such as the MIND Re- dents learn, including everything from Coverage of the implementation of college- and search Institute are at the forefront of verbal reasoning to spatial perception. career-ready standards and the use of personal- those initiatives. The group’s widely used But the company, like others in the field, ized learning is supported in part by a grant educational math software, called ST is still trying to find user-friendly ways from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Math, provides students with learning for schools and parents to turn the result- Education Week retains sole editorial control exercises that aim to build not only math ing information into compelling learning over the content of this coverage. 䐀愀琀愀 愀渀搀 䄀猀猀攀猀猀洀攀渀琀 吀爀愀渀猀昀漀爀洀 夀漀甀爀 唀渀搀攀爀猀琀愀渀搀椀渀最 漀昀 匀琀甀搀攀渀琀 䐀愀琀愀 ᰠ䤀昀 䤀 挀漀甀氀搀 琀愀欀攀 攀瘀攀爀礀琀栀椀渀最 䤀 眀愀渀琀攀搀 愀 搀愀琀愀 瀀爀漀搀甀挀琀 琀漀 搀漀 愀渀搀 洀愀欀攀 椀琀 椀渀琀漀 愀 搀愀琀愀 瀀爀漀最爀愀洀Ⰰ 䤀氀氀甀洀椀渀愀琀攀 椀猀 戀攀琀琀攀爀 琀栀愀渀 䤀 挀漀甀氀搀 栀愀瘀攀 攀瘀攀渀 搀爀攀愀洀攀搀℀ 䤀 挀愀渀渀漀琀 昀甀氀氀礀 攀砀瀀爀攀猀猀 椀渀 眀漀爀搀猀 栀漀眀 愀洀愀稀椀渀最 椀琀 椀猀⸀ 䤀琀 眀漀爀欀猀 氀椀最栀琀渀椀渀最 昀愀猀琀⸀⸀⸀ 一攀瘀攀爀 戀攀昀漀爀攀 栀愀瘀攀 䤀 栀愀搀 琀栀攀 愀戀椀氀椀琀礀 琀漀 栀愀瘀攀 搀愀琀愀 渀漀琀 漀渀氀礀 椀渀 愀 琀椀洀攀氀礀 洀愀渀渀攀爀Ⰰ 戀甀琀 椀渀猀琀愀渀琀氀礀Ⰰ 琀漀 愀氀氀漀眀 椀琀 琀漀 琀爀甀氀礀 搀爀椀瘀攀 愀渀搀 椀渀昀氀甀攀渀挀攀 洀礀 椀渀猀琀爀甀挀琀椀漀渀⸀ᴠ ⴀ䄀氀椀挀攀 䬀攀攀氀攀爀 ⠀吀攀愀挀栀攀爀 ☀ 吀攀挀栀渀漀氀漀最礀 䌀漀愀挀栀Ⰰ 䌀氀漀瘀椀猀 䠀椀最栀 匀挀栀漀漀氀⤀ 眀攀戀猀椀琀攀㨀 眀眀眀⸀椀氀氀甀洀椀渀愀琀攀攀搀⸀挀漀洀 攀洀愀椀氀㨀 猀愀氀攀猀䀀椀氀氀甀洀椀渀愀琀攀攀搀⸀挀漀洀 Spotlight On Growth Mindset / edweek.org 4 Published December 9, 2015, in Education Week In Math, Positive Mindset May Prime Students’ Brains Scans provide support for theory By Sarah D. Sparks skill at soccer is innate, for example—and pus—an area often associated with the math is a subject often associated with a ability to quickly remember math facts aving a positive mindset fixed mindset. and processes—and the other brain areas in math may do more than Of the children in the study, 47 were associated with math problem-solving. just help students feel more asked to either stare at a fixed point or Imagine starting your car on a confident about their skills identify whether a series of addition prob- frosty morning. If you warm up the en- and more willing to keep lems were correct while being scanned gine a bit before starting out, the car Htrying when they fail; it may prime their using functional magnetic resonance im- is primed to work better. And if you’ve brains to think better. aging, or fMRI, a noninvasive method of just tuned up your engine, it is able to In an ongoing series of experiments at identifying brain activity by measuring run more efficiently. Stanford University, neuroscientists have changes in blood flow in the brain. Chen’s findings suggest a positive found more efficient brain activity during Chen and his colleagues found that stu- mindset could be giving the brain a math thinking in students with a positive dents with higher positive-mindset levels similar double boost: “Overall, there is mindset about math. in math were more accurate at identify- an upregulation of the general cognitive It’s part of a growing effort to map the ing correct and incorrect math problems, network involving memory, spatial pro- biological underpinnings of what educa- even after controlling for differences in cessing, and cognitive control supporting tors call a positive or growth mindset, in IQ, age, working memory, reading ability, math cognition,” he said. “Then, specifi- which a student believes intelligence or and math anxiety. cally, one of the interesting components other skills can be improved with train- A lower positive-mindset level was is the hippocampal region, which shows ing and practice, rather than being fixed likewise associated with lower math per- a very specific effect for memory retrieval and inherent traits. formance. for problem-solving. If we want to solve “Our findings provide strong evidence “This is very, very exciting,” said Carol 3+4=7, there are several different ways that a positive mindset contributes to chil- Dweck, the Stanford psychologist who to solve it, but the hippocampus plays a dren’s math competence,” said Lang Chen, first coined the terms “growth” and “fixed” role in retrieval rate in solving arithme- a Stanford University postdoctoral fellow mindsets, but who was not involved with tic problems. It’s one of the cognitive-core in cognitive psychology and neuroscience. Chen’s study. “We’ve typically asked how hallmarks for efficient problem-solving for “Beyond the emotional or even motivation- does [mindset] affect students’ willing- math in children.” The more positive the al story of ‘positive mindset,’ there may be ness to take on challenges and their abil- mindset, the higher the activation and up- cognitive functions supporting the story.” ity to stick to that challenge when they hit regulation researchers saw in those areas setbacks. This opens up a whole new area, and the better students performed on the which is getting ready to solve a problem. math problems. Seeing a Mind in the Brain “My hunch is that often in the fixed In a forthcoming study previewed at mindset, your mind is preoccupied with ‘Is the Society for Neuroscience’s annual this hard?’ ‘Will I look smart?’ ‘What will Echoes of Other Studies meeting in Chicago in October, Chen and happen if I don’t do this?’ ‘I’m not good at Dweck said that pattern aligns with colleagues tested 243 children ages 7 to math,’ instead of getting that brain ready separate findings by Bruce McCandliss, 9 for intelligence, numerical problem- to do it,” Dweck said.