the college classroom week 5: fixed and growth mindsets and assessments that support learning

on target by hans_s on flickr CC-BY-ND

The College Classroom

October 29 and 31, 2013

Week 5: Fixed vs. growth mindset and

assessments that support learning

Vocabulary Check: Mindsets [1]

The helpless [children]

believe that intelligence is

a fixed trait: you have

only a certain amount,

and that’s that. I call this

a ‘fixed mind-set.’

The mastery-oriented

children think intelligence

is malleable and can be

developed through

education and hard work.

3

collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu #tccucsd

Fixed, Entity,

Performance-oriented

Growth, Malleable,

Incremental,

Mastery- oriented


4

Graphic by Nigel Holmes [2]


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Agency “Human agency is the capacity for human beings to make

choices. It is normally contrasted to natural forces, which are

causes involving only unthinking deterministic processes.” Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agency_(philosophy)

We’ve all been there… 11

When have you encountered a fixed or growth

mindset, in yourself or someone you know?

2-minute Think, Pair, Share


Fixed vs. growth mindset influences…


12

…how we react to feedback:

…our motivation to engage in deliberate practice

fixed mindset growth mindset

criticism

praise

? ?

? ?

Feedback and Practice that Enhance

Learning (How Learning Works) 13

When Practice Does Not Make Perfect… Students’ writing in public policy course


The instructors don’t recognize

their own expertize, fail to

give useful practice and

feedback.

“expert blindness”

“curse of knowledge”

They Just Do Not Listen! Students’ presentations in medical anthropology course



Solution: Goal-directed practice coupled with targeted

feedback are critical to learning. [3]


Images:

Excellent Shot by Varsity Life on flickr CC

Music by Piulet on flickr CC



Solution: Goal-directed practice coupled with targeted

feedback are critical to learning. [3]

[G]oals can direct the nature of focused practice, provide

the basis for evaluating observed performance, and shape

the targeted feedback that guides students’ future efforts.

[p. 127]

[T]argeted feedback gives students prioritized information

about how their performance does or does not meet the

criteria so they can understand how to improve their future

performance.

[p. 141] collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu #tccucsd

Scenarios


16

feedback at

appropriate level

feedback not at

appropriate level

productive practice unproductive practice

practice is goal-directed practice not goal-directed

timely feedback untimely feedback

Powerful tool for

practicing analysis:

contrasting cases

In a moment but not yet, find 2 others with the

same colored sheet as you. Together, think of

examples/scenarios of both cases, in

sports/hobbies and in teaching and learning.

Feedback at Appropriate Level Feedback not at Appropriate Level sp

ort

/hobby

tea

chin

g a

nd

lea

rnin

g

Productive Practice Unproductive Practice sp

ort

/hobby

tea

chin

g a

nd

lea

rnin

g

Practice Goal-directed Practice not Goal-directed sp

ort

/hobby

tea

chin

g a

nd

lea

rnin

g

Timely Feedback Untimely Feedback sp

ort

/hobby

tea

chin

g a

nd

lea

rnin

g

Instructional Scaffolding 21

Needs to be given BEFORE and BUILT INTO

assignment

Outlines what it takes to improve

Supports Zone of Proximal Development [6]

(“reasonable yet challenging goal” [2])

James Paul Gee [5] “What video games

have to teach us about learning and

literacy”


angrybirds.com


22

Clicker question: Wait, what is this?

A) a rubric

B) a grading scheme

C) I have another name for it

Clicker question 23

Does this grading scheme foster a

A) fixed mindset

B) growth mindset

C) neither

D) both


(“performance-oriented”)

(“mastery-oriented”)


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Teaching Statement Rubric

Goals for student learning

Enactment of goals (teaching method)

Assessment of goals (measuring student learning)

Creating an inclusive learning environment

Structure, rhetoric and language

Excellent Needs

Work Weak

Instructional Scaffolding: Rubrics 25

support growth mindsets

path to improvement

goal-directed

[G]oals can direct the nature of focused practice, provide the basis for evaluating observed performance, and shape the targeted feedback that guides students’ future efforts.

targeted feedback

[T]argeted feedback gives students prioritized information about how their performance does or does not meet the criteria so they can understand how to improve their future performance.


Assessment Strategies…


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addressing the need for goal-directed practice

addressing the need for targeted feedback

Work on the hand-out,

thinking about what you’ve

experienced or what you

aspire to do in your field.

Carl Wieman

Science Education Initiative

cwsei.ubc.ca

Take Away 27

Plan your course (learning outcomes, assessments and

activities)


What should

students

learn?

What are

students

learning?

What instructional

approaches

help students

learn?

learning

outcomes assessment

Take Away 28

Plan your course (learning outcomes, assessments and

activities)

Motivation and Expertise

growth mindset is necessary for deliberate practice,

development of expertise

How YOU behave in the classroom

rewarding errors, etc.

take care to support and be sensitive to minority

experiences


Mindset for your students


29

You

must foster

a growth mindset

in your students.

Department-wide email from ,

faculty member in Department of


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"Our discussions on undergraduate education seem to focus mostly on where we want students to be and how to teach to get them there. In my view, this ignores an important dimension, namely the raw intellectual quality of a student and the fact that this varies hugely across our student body. This creates intrinsic limitations.

“Our discussions seem to assume that we can, in principle, teach all students all things, if we have the right methods. In my view, every student has an inherent intellectual range, and the best we can do is push them to the top of this range. This range varies enormously from student to student. Some students will never understand the difference between a ________________ and a ____________ and there isn't anything to do about it.

“If the goal of education is to enable each student to realize their potential, we need to appreciate the vast differences in these potentials."

Mindset for your students


31

You must have a growth

mindset about your students’

ability to learn.

You

must foster

a growth mindset

in your students.

and you

References


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1. Dweck, C.S. (2007). The Secret to Raising Smart Kids. Scientific American,

18, 6, 36-43.

2. Nigel Holmes http://nigelholmes.com/home.htm

3. Ambrose, S.A., Bridges, M.W., DiPietro, M., Lovett, M.C., & Norman, M.K.

(2010). How Learning Works. San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass.

4. Glued to Games: How Video Games Draw Us In and Hold Us Spellbound

http://www.gluedtogames.com/

5. Gee, J.P. (2005). Learning by Design: good video games as learning

machines. E-Learning 2, 1, 5-16.

6. Wertsch, J.V. (1984). The zone of proximal development: Some conceptual

issues. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 1984, 23,

7–18.


