Mindset and Learning Theory
How beliefs about learning shape development: the fixed and growth mindsets described by Dweck, the role of praise and self-efficacy, learning styles, and Willingham view that lessons should not be matched to a fixed learning style.
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How we think about learning
The way a learner thinks about their own ability can change how well they learn. The psychologist Dweck described two mindsets, and the psychologist Willingham studied how people really learn best. This module looks at their ideas and what they mean for students.
Mindset terms
Learn these four terms before you study the two theories.
Two mindsets
Dweck described two very different ways of thinking about ability.
A strength and a limitation
A top answer evaluates a theory, giving a strength and a limitation. Praising a learner for effort rather than for being clever helps build a growth mindset. Willingham argued there is little evidence that matching lessons to a learning style improves results, which challenges a popular idea.
Match the mindset term
- fixed mindset
- growth mindset
- self-efficacy
- praise for effort
- believing your ability cannot change
- believing your ability can grow with effort
- a belief in your own ability to succeed
- the kind of praise that builds a growth mindset
Match the idea to the theory
- ability can grow with effort and practice
- there is little evidence for teaching to a learning style
- someone who learns best from words
- someone who learns best from pictures
- part of Dweck mindset theory
- part of Willingham learning theory
- a verbaliser
- a visualiser
What is a growth mindset?
What is a growth mindset?
- The belief that your ability can grow with effort and practice.
- The belief that your ability is fixed and cannot change.
- A preference for learning from pictures.
- The belief that success comes only from natural talent.
Signs of a growth mindset
Select the TWO signs of a growth mindset.
- Believing effort helps you improve.
- Seeing mistakes as a chance to learn.
- Avoiding hard tasks in case you fail.
- Giving up quickly when something is difficult.
A growth-mindset response
Put a growth-mindset response to a hard task in order, earliest first.
- Face a hard task instead of avoiding it
- Put in effort and keep trying
- Learn from any mistakes made
- Improve at the task over time
Both sides of both changes
A school decides to praise effort rather than cleverness, and to stop grouping pupils by learning style. Evaluate both. Each has a defensible _____: on the first, Dweck argues that praising effort teaches pupils to treat ability as something that can _____; on the second, Willingham found the _____ for teaching to a style to be thin. But an evaluation needs the other side as well. A _____ of the first is that praise for effort rings hollow when the work never improves, and of the second that pupils may still have real preferences even where the _____ does not support teaching to them.
Count the mindsets
How many mindsets does Dweck describe: a fixed mindset and a growth mindset?
Find the growth mindset
Tap the TWO signs of a growth mindset.
- Believing effort leads to improvement
- Avoiding challenges in case of failure
- Learning from mistakes
- Believing ability cannot change
- Giving up when work is hard
Whose idea is it?
Decide what each one shows.
- A student believes that with practice they can get better at maths
- A student believes they are just not a maths person and never will be
- A psychologist argues that matching lessons to a learning style does not improve results
Explain the effect
Explain how having a growth mindset could help a student who is finding a subject difficult. Use the ideas of effort and learning from mistakes.
- Explain what a growth mindset is
- Explain how effort and mistakes help learning
- Explain the effect on the student over time