07

2019

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08

【Exploration in Education】The concept of education should convince the child that he has the power to make himself better

Do you believe that intelligence can be changed by acquired efforts, and encourage children to actively evaluate and develop their potential? In 1978, a professor in the United States conducted an experiment in which a group of children were asked to play jigsaw puzzles, and their behavior and emotional responses were observed. The puzzles start out easy and then get harder. Before the experiment, the professor expected that children would react differently when faced with difficulties. that's the truth. As the puzzle became more and more difficult, some children began to protest: "It's not fun at all now!" Later, they couldn't stand it anymore and insisted on "giving up", and even pushed the puzzle to the ground.


The category:

Education to explore

Do you believe that intelligence can be changed by acquired efforts, and encourage children to actively evaluate and develop their potential?

In 1978, an American professor conducted an experiment in which a group of children were asked to play a puzzle and observed their behavior and emotional responses. The puzzles start out easy and then get harder.

Before the experiment, the professor expected that children would react differently when faced with difficulties. that's the truth. As the puzzle became more and more difficult, some children began to protest: "It's not fun at all!" Later, they couldn't stand it anymore, and insisted on "giving up", and even pushed the puzzle directly to the ground.

But what she didn't expect was the performance of those "successful children". When faced with a particularly difficult puzzle, a 10-year-old boy pulled up a chair, sat down, rubbed his hands, smashed his mouth, and shouted, "I love this challenge!" Another, with a look of joy , and said decisively, "You know what? I'm expecting this puzzle to be very interesting."

Why is there such a big difference between the two types of children when they face difficulties? Is it due to their innate, unalterable biological differences, such as differences in intelligence quotient (IQ)?

--Do not. First of all, IQ is not the root cause, and IQ is not immutable.

The professor's research went a step further and found that the fundamental difference between these children lies in thinking patterns, and differences in thinking patterns can lead to differences in their IQs.

A mindset, simply put, is the way you see yourself.

If we think that our intelligence and abilities are set in stone, and that the whole world is made up of tests to measure our IQ and ability, we have a "fixed mindset". Children with a fixed mindset are often afraid of failure, worry that they will look less intelligent and stupid, and refuse to accept challenges and face difficulties, thereby limiting their developmental potential. And if we think that all things are inseparable from personal efforts, the world is full of interesting challenges that help us learn and grow, we have a "growth mindset" (growth mindset). The mindsets of those successful kids are growth-oriented. They believe that their IQ and ability can be changed through their own efforts, that their potential is unknown, that difficulties and failures are just challenges to help them progress, and they are passionate about learning... and when children break through their "comfort zone" every time To learn new knowledge and meet new challenges, neurons in the brain will form new and strong connections, and over time, they will become smarter and smarter.

That is to say, a growth mindset not only determines a child's positive attitude to face difficulties and challenges, but also improves a child's IQ by stimulating more active brain activity. According to the formula performance = ability × attitude, it is not difficult to understand why children with a growth mindset are more likely to succeed than children with a fixed mindset.

Professors have also found differences between the two mindsets in many other areas. In a relationship, growth-mindset people seek out partners who make them better, while fixed-mindset people tend to look for people who allow them to stagnate.

In sports, athletes with a growth mindset work hard to train to get better and better, while athletes with a fixed mindset attribute their stagnant, suboptimal results to others. More critically, the professor's findings confirm that a person's thinking patterns can be changed. In other words, a growth mindset can be taught and cultivated.

How do we nurture a growth mindset in our children? The professor said that it is not difficult, and some small interventions, can have the effect of shaping a growth mindset.

For example, praise children more wisely. Don't praise your child's intelligence or ability, and don't label your child. Don't praise your child with vague sentences like "This painting is amazing, you are our Picasso!", "Baby, you are so smart!" This will not increase children's self-confidence and make them learn better, but will make children think that they are valued and praised simply because of their IQ. The end result is that they refuse to accept challenges and take risks, worry about screwing up, look "not smart" and "dumb", and over time, they slowly lose enthusiasm for learning.

Praise the child must be specific and clear, praise the process rather than the result, such as his efforts, focus, persistence, creativity, strategy and so on.

For example, teach children to use "yet". A professor at a high school in Chicago found that children who failed exams there received grades not with a determinant of failure (e.g., failed, F), but with "not yet." The two have completely different meanings.

If a child gets a "failure" rating, he may think he has been judged as a failure, with no room for improvement and the door to learning closed. And "not yet" means that he is still on the track of learning, but has not yet reached the end. So, if your child says "I can't do this," teach him to put yet at the end of the sentence, which means: he just can't do it right now, but he'll do better next time. Using the word yet, we can help a child shape the mindset that current setbacks and failures are just normal things to go through in the learning curve, and that positivity and effort will make him do better next time.