Student Potential Through Growth Mindset Mentoring
Focusing on effort over achievements, the EDUCAN! youth engagement program in Boston aims to cultivate a growth mindset in students. Dr. Carol S. Dweck's research on fixed vs. growth mindsets underscores the importance of dedication and hard work in personal development and learning. The program's approach to challenging and changing mindsets is reinforced by the malleability of our brains, as highlighted through neuroscience studies. By encouraging a growth mindset, students can enhance their learning outcomes and academic performance significantly.
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Presentation Transcript
EDUCAN! Mindset Mentoring
Who are we? We are EDUCAN! A youth engagement program in the Boston area via Santander bank and Boston University. Our program aims to help students focus on efforts as opposed to achievements, and to help them foster a growth mindset that they can practice and implement in their daily lives. During the 7-week pilot program, 1 hour per week, mentees worked individually or in pairs with mentors, through a series of activities to help them challenge and change their mindset.
Picture your brain forming new connections as you meet the challenge and learn. Keep on going. Carol S. Dweck What is Mindset? Mindsets can be fixed or growth In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success without effort. They re wrong. In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all great people have had these qualities. Discovered by Stanford University psychologist Dr. Carol Dweck
Fixed mindset vs. growth mindset
The Neuroscience Our brains are malleable. Learning happens in several stages: encoding, consolidation and retrieval. During encoding, information is gathered via our sensory input and bound together by the MT lobe regions to create a distinct episode (Eichembaum, 2004) or neuronally encode version of the world (Dudai, 2007). Through consolidation, the memory trace becomes stabilized, and less reliant on the hippocampus for retrieval as it is distributed to other areas of the neocortex (Dudai, Fitzpatrick & Roediger, 2007). When we learn something, the brain is not fixed and it can be changed as we learn and new information is incorporated. For example, taking a test on information just learned has shown to benefit learning over simply reading, this is the testing effect. On a neurological level, the testing has been found to result in increased activity in brain regions associated with encoding, including the left hippocampus and left prefrontal cortex (Vestergren & Nyberg, 2014).
Mindset can affect how well students learn A study with middle school students looked at the impact of fixed versus growth mindsets on achievement in math a subject that many students find challenging. Students with a growth mindset earned higher math grades over time compared to students with a fixed mindset On the Chilean national achievement test, students with a growth mindset earned higher scores. The more a student disagreed with statements like You can learn new things, but you can t really change your basic intelligence, the more they had a growth mindset the better they did on the achievement test. In fact, students who had a growth mindset were three times as likely to score in the top 20% of students nationally while students with a fixed mindset were four times more likely to score in the bottom 20% of students Source: https://www.mindsetkit.org/growth- mindset-parents/learn-about-growth- mindset/research-how-mindset-affects-learning
Mindsets can change Dr. Carol Dweck outlines 4 fundamental steps to change your mindset: 1) Learn to hear the fixed mindset voice What if you fail you ll be a failure 2) Recognize that you have a choice How you interpret challenges, setbacks, and criticism is your choice 3) Talk back with your growth mindset voice FIXED MINDSET: What if you fail you ll be a failure GROWTH MINDSET: Most successful people had failures along the way. 4) Put growth mindset into action and learn from mistakes and try again.
Failures as opportunities Failure is success if we learn from it. ~ Malcolm Forbes mistakes are valuable opportunities for growth- we should talk about mistakes as if they are exciting, and a natural part of the human experience. Analyze mistakes together Honor what they did right, even in mistakes Talk about the feelings associated with mistakes Push your mentee to take on bigger challenges when they are ready Share your own failures and mistakes Ask questions like: How do you feel when you make a mistake? How do you think other people see you when you make a mistake? Have you ever discovered something new from making a mistake?
Program structure Week 1 - Getting to know you, what is challenging for you? What is a growth mindset? Mindset survey Week 2 Intelligence is not fixed, mindset can change, why a mindset matters Week 3 The neuroscience of learning, failure and challenges as opportunity, celebrating mistakes Week 4 Thinking differently when things get hard- talking back to your fixed mindset, Study Skill, Week 5 Using your growth mindset; Review last week did they use any strategies/growth mindset/ how the week going? Week 6 Finish up and review, mindset survey Week 7 Program evaluation and review
The role of Mentors Offer strategies to approach problems Reframe difficulties and emotions from a growth perspective Model a growth mindset
Getting to know you, what is challenging for you? What is a growth mindset? Mindset survey Week 1 We spent week 1 getting to know each other. We started by playing a game of Salt and Pepper, where mentors and mentee s had to find their partner. Afterwards, mentors and mentees broke off into their groups and got to know each other even better, by trying to find similarities between themselves.
Week 2 Intelligence is not fixed, mindset can change, why a mindset matters Week two is where the real work began. Mentors and mentees worked independently in their pairs and groups using tricky games such as Bop-it and Simon and other examples to explain that if we find something hard now it won t always be that way. The session wasn t all hard work, it ended with 20 minutes of free play, where students and mentors could spend more time bonding over games such as Jenga and Hungry Hippos!
The neuroscience of learning, failure and challenges as opportunity, celebrating mistakes Week 3 One again, this week began by using the tricky games of Simon and pop-it, the games were passed around a circle and each student attempted the game, ultimately making errors. In pairs, mentors and mentees then learn about famous people who have failed at things but later on still become successful at what they do. We then played the bop-it game again to show that you can get better at something if you try it again. Lastly, we played the crumpled paper game to show the brain is malleable.
Week 4: Thinking differently when things get hard- talking back to your fixed mindset, study skill. Week 4 began with a mini lesson on how the brain is made up of cells called neurons and when you use your brain, it gets bigger and stronger and smarter, as the neurons make new connections. We used the analogy that the brain changes in the same way your muscles get bigger when you work out at the gym. Then we talked about study skills that the students could use to help them study at school. We fished the session with another opportunity for free play.
Week 5Using your growth mindset; Review last week did they use any strategies/growth mindset/ how the week going? Week 5 began with a activity focused around the Cartoon Character Kung-Fu Panda, who must overcome his fixed mindset about selling noodles to become the dragon master. At each stage of the game the students had to choose the action that would help the Panda overcome his fixed mindset. The session ended with the mentors and mentees working together to discuss where a growth mindset could be useful outside of school.
Week 6 Finish up and review. Week 6 began with a story memory game. The mentees were read a story and then had to recall as much of it as they could. Before recalling the story a second time the students were asked to read the story again a create a story board to help them remember it. We then asked for volunteers to come up and tell the story again. They were able to remember much more with the story board and this showed them yet another method that can be useful for studying. We ended with the Malteser game, where mentees had to recall things they learned about growth mindset, before trying to pick up a piece of candy using only a straw, which is quite a challenge!
Week 7 Program evaluation and review This was the final session. The mentees completed the second mindset survey and a program evaluation. After which they were presented with certificates by their mentors and played games together for the last time.
Mindset Survey Results The results of the mindset survey were mixed. Some students showed significant improvement, while others did not. In addition the mindset survey results did not match up with the written survey that we gave the students. The results of the written survey were overwhelmingly positive and students seemed to have learned a great deal about growth mindset and how to use it. We believe the discrepancy in the results is due the the mindset survey being too complex for 5th graders to understand. If are able to run the program again in Fall 2016 we will find a more simple measure.
Survey Results We gave the students a survey before the start of the program, and at the end of the program to examine if their mindset score had improved. The results is illustrated below. As you can see, some students showed improvement while others did not. Unfortunately, on the last day many of the students who were normally present were not able to attend the last session, limiting our results. Survey 1 occurred before program start, Survey 2 at program end. 50 45 40 35 Mindset score 30 25 Survey 1 20 Survey 2 15 10 5 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Student
Written Survey Results In contrast to the metric survey the results of the hand- written survey we gave to the students on the last day were overwhelmingly positive. Questions and answer quotes taken from the surveys are illustrated below and in the next few slides. The best thing I learned during the program was That I can do better
One things I learned about growth mindset was . No matter how smart you are you can always try harder you should believe in yourself Your intelligence isn't fixed you can change it You can succeed even if its hard Imagine telling yourself from 7 weeks about growth mindset what would you say? I can do better in school Never give up Your brain can grow and change
If I am studying for a test I could.. Write it down In the future I could use growth mindset to Do better at History Help people Help me learn more Help me with things I don t know Do better on tests
What did you like about the program? Mentors Mentors playing games with us Meeting new people and games Out if all 7 sessions my favorite was when we Kung-Fu panda session Kung-Fu Panda Learned about brains Used straws to get candy Some things that I would change about the program Nothing I wouldn t change anything More chocolate Out of all 7 session my least favorite was . When I didn t come none nada
Mentor feedback At the end of the program we asked mentors to complete an online survey to evaluate the program. Key results Positives 100% of mentors enjoyed mentoring during the program They felt that the most successful aspects of the program included the interactive sessions, giving the mentees an incentive to participate in the session and the one to one aspect. 100% felt that program was effective in its aim to encourage a growth mindset. Criticisms Crowed/loud room Activities sometimes unstructured Need more healthy snacks
Suggestions for improvements More didactic lessons with PowerPoint, models, role play, solving problems, team work. Debrief with mentors after each session to work on week-week improvements and bounce ideas off each other. Extend the program to 10 weeks to give more time to discuss key concepts. Healthy snacks for students. More opportunities for mentors to run lessons.
Future Directions We hope to continuing the program in Fall 2016. Based on the feedback we have received, we will: Create a more structured and integrated program, with more didactic and creative lessons. Have an inspirational speaker come and talk at one of the sessions Increase opportunities' for mentors to be involved in creating and administering lessons. Find a more appropriate metric for middle school students in order to measure changes in mindset more effectively (potentially online: https://mindsetmeter.appspot.com/share/dlmooc). Provide healthier snacks during sessions. Debrief mentors after each session to in order to discuss strategies and speed up improvements to the program. Extend the program to other students/ schools. We request that our grant be extend so that we can implement these changes and and help more students develop a growth mindset and succeed.
Current Expenditures The table below shows our expenditures during Spring 2016. We have $1240.04 remaining in our budget. Item Budget Total spent total remaining Snacks and drinks $150 276.98 -126.98 $100 Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Dr. Dweck 214.20 -114.20 Paper, small whiteboards, pens and pencils for activities with the mentees $300 218.78 81.22 Transportation reimbursement $820 0.00 820.00 Educan! t-shirts $300 0.00 300.00 Flyers, pamphlets $280 0.00 280.00 Total $1,950 709.96 1,240.04
Proposed Future Budget Proposed Budget for Fall 2016 Total remaining in Budget as of June 2016 $1,240.04 Item Cost Healthy snacks and drinks for mentoring sessions $250 Mentor training session snacks and drinks $80 Projector $100 Inspirational Speaker budget $200 NEDesigns t-shirts $234 Misc equipment: paper, pens ect $100 Total Cost $964 Total remaining budget: 276.04
Thank you! Thank you for the opportunity to kick-start EDUCAN! We have learned many lessons along the way and are really excited about developing and improving the program further. Sincerely, The EDUCAN! team
