Education 2.0 & 3.0

Thinking about Thinking Optimizes Learning

Most teachers know that if students reflect on how they learn, they become better learners. For example, some students may think and process information best in a quiet library; others may focus better surrounded by familiar noise or music. Learning strategies that work for math may be different from those applied in the study of a foreign language. For some, it takes more time to understand biology than chemistry. With greater awareness of how they acquire knowledge, students learn to regulate their behavior to optimize learning. They begin to see how their strengths and weaknesses affect how they perform. The ability to think about one’s thinking is what neuroscientists call metacognition. As students’ metacognitive abilities increase, research suggests they also achieve at higher levels.

Metacognition plays an important role in all learning and life experiences. Beyond academic learning, when students gain awareness of their own mental states, they begin to answer important questions: How do I live a happy life? How do I become a respected human being? How do I feel good about myself? Through these reflections, they also begin to understand other people’s perspectives.  

Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=reflection

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=Psychology

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=Metacognition

It’s no secret that technology advancements have affected our brains. With instant messages, push notifications, wearable technology, and many other tech-driven distractions, the pace at which we are expected to respond has accelerated. We’re multitasking with unfortunate effects. How much more can our brains take? And is it possible to future-proof them for all the technical advances yet to come?

Performance expert and Australian medical practitioner Jenny Brockis, author of Future Brain: 12 Keys to Develop Your High-Performing Brain, thinks so. Our brains are designed to adapt, but there’s a difference between adjusting to change and expecting an organ to endure relentless stress without time to renew, she says. So the first step to future-proofing our brains lies in good physical care, including nutrition, exercise, sleep, and downtime, she says.

It's a fancy word that means pondering past experiences -- often, our mistakes -- over and over. It could be something you said. Something you did. Something you didn't do.

Whatever the reason, we as human beings spend a lot of time dwelling on our past. And science says 70 percent of the time we only relive the negative aspects of our lives.

Why do we have such a hard time letting go? Perhaps it's because, deep down, we're wired to be problem solvers. We need to make meaning out of negative experiences.

But obsessing over a mistake won't change the past. It won't solve the problem. It will make it worse (according to psychologists at Yale and the University of California).

These psychologists say that living a mistake over and over impairs our problem solving abilities. It leads to increased negative thoughts and depression. It even erodes our support network -- no one wants to hear from the person who can't let things go.

In short: Dwelling on past mistakes puts us in, and keeps us in, a bad state. The very thing we're trying to get out of.

A 2009 study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology revealed that sitting up straight and sticking your chest out can boost self confidence, while slouching can lead to negative thoughts. Another study found that good posture actually increases your productivity and creativity.

What would you say are a few of the biggest myths about growth mindset?

OK, myth No.1 is the myth that it’s all about effort, and that you instil it by praising effort. Effort is one factor that leads to learning. So the ultimate value is growth, progress, learning. And effort is one thing that leads there but there are many other things – strategies, using resources, getting advice, guidance and mentorship, and when people leave that out and just praise effort, it’s not transmitting a growth mindset. Adults have nagged children for centuries to try harder. That’s not a growth mindset, it’s an adult nagging a child to try harder!

Also, we find that when teachers think it’s just about effort and praising effort they may praise effort that isn’t even there, or that’s not effective. So if a child tries hard at something and you say ‘great job, you tried hard’, but they didn’t make progress, they didn’t advance, you’re actually conveying a fixed mindset because you’re saying ‘great effort, I didn’t really expect you to do that, and I don’t expect you to do that, so I’m trying to make you feel good about not doing it’. So we need people to understand that it’s appreciating a variety of process variables that lead to learning.

The second myth is that you can teach students a lesson on growth mindset and put a poster up in the front of the room, and that’s that, that they will have a growth mindset from then on. And we know if the teacher doesn’t then embody a growth mindset, if teachers don’t embody growth mindsets in their teaching practices, in the way that they give feedback when the child is stuck, and the way they present a new unit, in the way that they give opportunities for revision and growth of understanding – if they don’t embody that growth mindset, they are not teaching it. And in fact, if their behaviour contradicts the poster at the front of the room, then maybe they’re doing a disservice.

Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=carol+dweck

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=Growth+Mindset

False growth mindset is saying you have growth mindset when you don’t really have it or you don’t really understand [what it is]. It’s also false in the sense that nobody has a growth mindset in everything all the time. Everyone is a mixture of fixed and growth mindsets. You could have a predominant growth mindset in an area but there can still be things that trigger you into a fixed mindset trait.

Something really challenging and outside your comfort zone can trigger it, or, if you encounter someone who is much better than you at something you pride yourself on, you can think “Oh, that person has ability, not me.” So I think we all, students and adults, have to look for our fixed-mindset triggers and understand when we are falling into that mindset.

I think a lot of what happened [with false growth mindset among educators] is that instead of taking this long and difficult journey, where you work on understanding your triggers, working with them, and over time being able to stay in a growth mindset more and more, many educators just said, “Oh yeah, I have a growth mindset” because either they know it’s the right mindset to have or they understood it in a way that made it seem easy.

Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?tag=Growth+Mindset

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2016/11/14/pssst-the-most-important-in-education-understanding/

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2016/11/01/getting-ready-for-modern-education-first-try-to-understand-what-it-is/

Are you pulled in a million directions? Because we’re all unique, it’s important to define what balance means to you and how you plan to achieve it.

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http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?tag=Frank+SONNENBERG

Ever wonder why really good people get manipulated into doing horrible things? More importantly, how can you make yourself immune to that manipulation? Socia...