S. Keller:
For some of us, growth mindset is a
challenging concept to believe. Why?
Teaching students about their brains is
important. It provides them the “data” to understand their potential is
infinite. Increasing their motivation and willingness to accept new challenges
may be viewed as “risk,” If educators are to create a culture of growth, then
we must model traits and willingness to accept new challenges. This results in
our continued growth and quest to seek continued improvement in what
information we present to students, how we present information to student, and
the interaction and classroom environment. The later outlines a flexible and
changing situation rather than a static situation. If we are receptive to
change, our students will see value and be motivated to change to grow.
Explore ways to teach students about
the brain and how they learn. Share what you have discovered.
I have observed that students enjoy learning and
knowing about them. This provides insight and understanding on what makes them
“tick.” I would like to explore using the preassessment referenced in Figure 7
on page 100. The student is provided a blank outline of a head and they are to
indicate what they already know about the brain. The Learning Task #3 provides
student with the analogy of the brain being like a muscle. My experience has
been that middle school students understand “fitness.” Discussion on learning
and strengthening, growing the brain, neurons making new pathways, and exercise
(embracing challenges) is an excellent opportunity to teach students about
their brain.
If an individual grew up and was taught that intelligence is fixed at birth and was indoctrinated with the bell curve view that each classroom will have a few students in the lowest intelligence percentile, a majority in the middle range, and a select few in the highest intellectual range that individual will likely resist the “growth mindset” view. Since the researchers found that “the older the child, the more likely that he or she had a fixed mindset in some aspect of learning” it naturally follows that an adult would be even more invested in a fixed mindset regarding the ability to learn. To change one’s entire way of looking how people learn, especially when one’s occupation is teaching could be daunting if one has never been exposed to a “growth mindset”.
ReplyDeleteStudents can be taught about the brain and how they learn by reading a nonfiction test about neuroscience, students can be asked to identify characters who exhibit growth or fixed mindset traits, students can be asked to draw their brains and explain what their brain does, students can be polled on their views regarding the brains ability to learn new things and a class discussion can take place, students can do activities such as “The Brain is Like a Sponge”, “Building a Neural Network”, “The Brain is Like a Muscle”, “Taking Care of Your Brain”, and “Collection Strategy”.
After reviewing the different activities students can participate in to learn about their brains I think the Guess Box Activity: (under The Brain is Like a Sponge) Let’s Get Your Brain Working will be a good one to do with all students. It involves putting a dry, flat sponge in a box (The students do not know what is in the box) and requires the students to ask questions in order to determine what is in the box. A chart lists the attributes of the item in the box and helps the students determine what is in the box. I like this exercise because even the questions that do not result in “attributes” help the students eventually identify the object. Thus, there are no “bad questions”. Also, after they figure out that it is a sponge they have to answer the question “How is your brain like a sponge?” So they have to think about their brains, compare them to the sponge, and then be able to verbalize the how they are similar. Finally, the teacher puts the dry sponge in a jar and add water to visually demonstrate that the water (which represents new knowledge) helps the sponge (representing their brains) grow and expand. After a few days without water, the students can actually see the sponge shrink in size and this can be related to what happens if their brain is not being challenged. This activity engages the students and creates a vivid visualization to demonstrate that the brain is not “fixed” but is fluid in nature.
"test" should be "text" in my response referencing students learning about their brain by reading a nonfiction "text" not "test".
ReplyDeleteChapter 8 provides a number of activities and strategies teachers can use to explore the inner-workings of the brain with students. Once students understand the basics of the brain (that it can “get stronger”, “strengthening neurons with practice”, etc), they will have some solid, factual evidence to lean on when learning about the mindsets, which will make it easier to promote the growth mindset overall.
ReplyDeleteI would combine the following activities from Chapter 8 to teach students about the brain and how we learn. If it is too time consuming for one teacher to do all on his/her own, then perhaps it could be set up in stations, or each grade level/content area/class period could focus on a specific activity for a school-wide “Brain Day”.
1.) Preassess growth versus fixed mindsets among students with “Agree/Disagree Questions” on page 106.
2.) Activate prior knowledge w/ figure 7 on page 100 (or do a basic KQL for time constraints).
3.) Hook student interest with the “Guess Box” activity on pages 108-109.
4.) Fire up student neurons with…
a. Sponge Experiment from page 110 -
b. Students Become Neurons from pages 111-113
c. The Brain is Like a Muscle Weights Activity from pages 118-119
5.) Wrap up with a "Quick Write" or "GIST" about the brain and/or mindsets.
For some of us, being of a growth mindset can be challenging. It is easier to give up on some things than it is to work hard to do better, or to do it right. Depending on the task at hand, you might just want to throw in the towel early, saying something like “I just can’t do this.” It’s harder to stick with it than to abandon the task. But I think a fixed mindset can be contagious; if you are willing to give up on one task, then you are potentially more likely to give up on other tasks, too. We need to avoid falling into this trap, and to keep telling ourselves we CAN do it, and rest assured in the knowledge that it will get easier over time.
ReplyDeleteTo teach my students about the brain, I would preview the topic and pre- assess their knowledge using one of the strategies found in Chapter 3. I might do a QuickWrite, asking students to write down everything they think they know about the brain. By sharing out a few of these, I could see what our knowledge base on the subject is. Because time is limited, I would not make this a big lesson to start, but would expect to return to the topic repeatedly throughout the year, in small increments. I would check out some of the science websites mentioned on page 117, as students always enjoy a quick video. It would be fun to have students draw the brain, probably using a template I would provide. They could label each portion of the brain, and we could label the specific functions of that brain segment. From this base of information, we could then begin to discuss growth and fixed mindset. Other activities/strategies I liked included the comparison between the brain and a muscle, and the discussion about lifting weights. Kids could relate to this. I also liked the sponge reference, to which they could also relate. Although the activity with the threads and strings and ropes to show neural connections could be a bit crazy, it could be fun, too. I also thought the example of having to find a path across an undeveloped area (be it forest or field), and how the more we travel it the better the path becomes (the easier the task becomes) was a good one to use. Chapter 8 has a lot of ideas about teaching the brain to our students, and will be a good reference for the future.
Some ways that I would teach students about the brain would activate what do we know about the brain. I would next like to do some sort of brain video. I think this would align well with doing a multiple intelligence learning Avtivities, to find out how each student learns. I would have them design a poster and report out.
ReplyDeleteI think it is important to know how your students learn and incorporate this in your daily activities to capture various multiple intelligence abilities.