How frequently do we praise our students for their effort? And how often do we praise their intelligence? There is an important distinction between these two, and doing both can have surprising impacts on students.
Carol Dweck is a Professor of Psychology at Stanford University and is the author of the 2008 book “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success”. I first came across this book in 2013 when I began working towards a Masters degree in the field of education, and I thoroughly recommend that all teachers read it at some point. Dweck teases out the ideas of growth mindsets and fixed mindsets and how they impact achievement. One very pleasing aspect of this book is that it is nothing like those awful “believe it and you’ll achieve it” self-help handbooks. Dweck’s research is rigorously scientific and her conclusions are expertly drawn out.
