FC - SYA - What is Growth Mindset?

WHAT IS GROWTH MINDSET?

Printable resources bank below.

WHAT IS A MINDSET?

Your MINDSET is the way you think about things you have to learn, do or try. It's the little voice in your head that jumps into your thoughts when you find things easy and everything is going well, or the little voice that jumps in when you find things tricky or when things go wrong.

Your MINDSET can make you feel great when you've done a good job, but sometimes it can be a bit mean ... even when you've got something right.

THINGS TO TALK ABOUT

Can you give an example of a time you did something well and the positive thoughts you had about it?
Can you give an example of when something well, but you didn't feel as good as you should about it?
Can you think of a time you struggled to do something, and you felt bad?
Can you think of a time when you struggled to do something and you felt positive about it?

Although your MINDSET lives inside your head (a little bit like your conscience) it's great to know that it's a tool you can train to make you feel more confident in any learning situation.

You can learn to change, “I can’t do it.” to “I can’t do it YET, but I will if I keep trying.”

GROWTH MINDSET V FIXED MINDSET

The opposite of a Growth Mindset is a Fixed Mindset. People who think with a Fixed Mindset worry more about looking clever and about what people think about their abilities.

A Fixed Mindset might be fine for a while, but it doesn’t make you happy or feel confident learning. It can even make you worry so much that you don’t want to try!

The good news is that if you work hard at cultivating a Growth Mindset you can train your brain to automatically think in this much more positive way.

Look at the ‘Growth Mindset V Fixed Mindset Poster to compare the two different ways of thinking.
Download below

Can you think of a time when you were learning something at school and really worried about trying because you didn’t want to look silly?

Would it have made a difference if you had been able to remind yourself that mistakes are just a normal part of learning? Or that, even if you didn’t get the right answer first time, you’d get there if you kept on working at it?