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[MUSIC]

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Kids come like this.

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Infinitely curious, always experimenting,

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always learning, and[br]attacking the most difficult

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tasks of a lifetime with tremendous gusto.

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And yet, just a few years later,[br]many of the same children look like this.

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Or this.

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Or this.

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We have discovered that[br]children's mindsets

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can lay at the heart of this problem.

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The wrong mindset can make[br]them afraid of challenge,

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afraid of effort, afraid of setbacks.

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The important thing is this.

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We have discovered where[br]these mindsets come from,

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how they work, and how to change them.

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So that's what I wanna[br]share with you today.

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In my work, we find that some case for[br]the fixed mind set.

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They think that their basic talents and[br]abilities are just these fixed traits,

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they have a certain amount of[br]intelligent and talents and that's that.

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As you'll see, this is the mindset[br]that saps children's motivation and

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stunts their minds, but[br]other students have a growth mindset.

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They believe their most basic talents and[br]abilities can be developed

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through practice, learning,[br]good mentorship From others.

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They don't think everyone's the same or[br]anyone can be Einstein, but

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they understand that even[br]Einstein wasn't the man he became

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before he put in years and[br]years of dedicated labor.

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What I'm gonna talk about is, how do[br]mindsets work and how they can be changed?

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We did a study of hundreds of[br]students making a very difficult

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school transition to seventh grade,[br]which is about 13, 14 years old.

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In my country,[br]this is when the work gets harder,

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the grading gets more stringent and[br]lots of kids turn off to school.

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At the beginning of seventh grade,[br]we measured students mindsets and

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then we monitored their grades[br]over the next two years.

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Look what happened.

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The students with the fixed and

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growth mindsets entered seventh grade[br]with identical past math achievement.

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But by the end of their[br]first term of seventh grade,

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their grades jumped apart and continued[br]to diverge over the next two years.

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Why did that happen?

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First, we showed that

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the kids with a fixed mindset[br]only care about looking smart.

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Look smart and never look dumb.

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Therefore they avoided[br]challenging learning task and

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they didn't study deeply[br]in order to learn.

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But those with the growth mindset,[br]there was no risk.

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They weren't showing how smart they were.

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They just dove into challenging learning[br]tasks with gusto like the babies.

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The second thing was that

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two mindsets created very[br]different beliefs about effort.

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And this is critically important.

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In a fixed mindset, effort is a bad thing.

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Students believe if you really have[br]ability, you shouldn't need effort.

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And if you have to apply effort,[br]it means you are not very smart.

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They subscribe to Homer Simpson's motto.

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Trying is the first step towards failure.

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But in the growth mindset,[br]kids understand that hard work and

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practice, that's what makes you smarter,[br]and they also understand

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that even genius' have had to work[br]hard for their great discoveries.

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So they enjoy effort.

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It makes them feel like they're learning,

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rather than making them[br]feel like they're dumb.

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And the third thing we[br]found was that the mindsets

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created completely different[br]attitudes towards setbacks.

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In a fixed mindset,[br]setbacks have a really negative meaning.

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They mean you're not smart.

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If you were smart, you wouldn't be[br]making mistakes or having failures.

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So their tendency is to get defensive,[br]to hide mistakes, to conceal deficiencies.

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But in a growth mindset,[br]there's this realization

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that set backs are an actual[br]part of learning.

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And that you need to confront your[br]mistakes and deficiencies and

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learn from them.

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I have to say with the way I got into[br]this field was that I was testing

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some kids and they were reached[br]some problem they couldn't solve.

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And one of them said, I love a challenge.

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Or another said,[br]I was hoping this would be informative.

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And so

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here were these ten year olds having[br]these exuberant reactions to setbacks.

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Ultimately I understood[br]they had a growth mindset.

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We asked our seventh graders[br]what they would do after a poor

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score on the first exam in a new course.

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Here's what they said.

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Those who endorsed a fixed mindset said,

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I'd spend less time on[br]this subject from now on.

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I would try to cheat on the next test.

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Well, think about it.

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This set back meant that[br]weren't smart at it and

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effort isn't something they enjoy or[br]value.

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What are their options?

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But in a growth mindset, they'd said I'd[br]work harder in this class from now on.

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I'd spend more time studying for the test.

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Let me show you how this works[br]in the brain, in this study

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the researchers monitored from

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the brain as students worked on a task and[br]made errors.

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You see this red hot brain on the right,[br]those are growth mindset students

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detecting the errors,[br]processing them and correcting them.

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On the left, you have that[br]fixed mindset brain looking so

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cool, fleeing, running from[br]the errors as quickly as possible.

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The good news is that when students[br]were taught a growth mindset,

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they looked like that.

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So a fixed mindset doesn't give[br]students a way to handle difficulty.

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They give up, run away, become defensive.

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When you see students acting bored or[br]acting out or blaming the teacher,

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it is often trying to hide the fixed[br]mindset of fear, of not looking smart.

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How are these mindsets transmitted?

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The most interesting way that we've[br]studied is how they are transmitted

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through the praise parents,[br]teachers, adults give to kids.

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We undertook this research at[br]the height of the self-esteem movement.

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When the gurus were telling everyone,[br]just praise kids lavishly,

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globally, praise their talent,[br]praise their abilities.

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In 15 or more years of research,[br]we have shown

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that praising children's ability[br]backfires, it harms them.

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It does not create growth in young minds.

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Here's how we found this out.

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In some studies, we brought ten year[br]olds into a room in their school.

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And we gave them initially ten[br]problems from this non-verbal IQ test.

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Then after the ten problems,[br]we gave each child one form of praise.

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Some children were praised for[br]their intelligence.

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Wow, that's a really good score,[br]you must be smart at this.

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Some were praised for the process[br]they engaged in, like their effort.

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Or their strategies that[br]could be in other studies or

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their focus or their persistence.

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Wow, that's a really good score,[br]you must have tried really hard.

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And a third group was told, wow,[br]that's a really good score.

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But we won't talk much about them,[br]they were right in the middle.

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What happened?

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First, we found that praising intelligence

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did indeed put students[br]into a fixed mindset.

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It said, I can look inside of you and[br]measure how smart you are.

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Whereas praising the process put[br]them into more of a growth mindset.

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But to me, the most astonishing[br]thing was that praising

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intelligence turned kids off to learning.

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When we gave them a choice[br]after the praise, hey,

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what do you wanna work on now?

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Something hard, you might make mistakes,[br]but you'll learn something new.

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Or something you're good at,[br]so you're sure to do well.

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Most of the kids praised for

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intelligence chose the easy task[br]where they were sure to do well.

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I like to say they didn't wanna risk[br]their newly minted gifted label.

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But those praised for

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the process overwhelmingly chose[br]the hard task they could learn from.

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Later, we gave everybody a hard[br]set of problems to work on.

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And those who were praised for[br]their intelligence,

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after these hard problems,[br]when we went back to the easy ones,

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showed deeply undermined performance.

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They did not recover from[br]the difficult problems.

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Telling them that they were smart[br]made their IQ lower on that test

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when they encounter difficulty.

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But the kids praised for[br]the process really flourished.

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We just two months ago published a study,

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where we looked at mothers'[br]praise to their babies.

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The babies were one to three years of age.

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And we showed that the mothers' praise[br]to these babies predicted the child's

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mindset and desire for[br]challenge five years later.

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So it starts young.

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It can always be changed,[br]but it starts young.

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And now when I hear a mother[br]telling her baby in the airport

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that he's a genius, I stop her.

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>> [LAUGH][br]>> Other research also

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showing parents' praise to their[br]older kids too is predicting

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that child's mindset and[br]desire for challenge over time.

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I've fallen in love with a new word, yet.

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And I think that's another way[br]we can convey mindsets to kids.

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I learned of a high school in Chicago,[br]where when students didn't pass a unit,

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instead of getting a failing grade,[br]they got the grade, not yet.

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And I thought, isn't that beautiful?

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If you get a failing grade,[br]you're nowhere.

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You're dumb, you're at the starting gate.

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But not yet means, hey,[br]you're on that learning curve,

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maybe you're not at the finish line,[br]but you're on that curve.

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So, if a student says,[br]I'm not good at, same as, yet.

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I can't do it, yet.

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Get back on that learning curve.

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I tried, but it didn't work yet.

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It tells them, we have faith in[br]their ability to learn over time,

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and we expect them to.

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When we saw that a growth mindset had so[br]many benefits, we asked,

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could we teach it to kids?

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So in our original study,[br]we took seventh graders, again,

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that difficult transition, many of whom[br]were already showing declining grades,

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especially in math, and[br]we broke them into two groups.

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One group, the control group, got eight[br]sessions of fantastic study skills.

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Skills that teachers told them, told us,[br]would really help them that year.

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But the other group,[br]the growth mindset group,

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got eight sessions of study skills,[br]plus growth mindset.

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The growth mindset sessions[br]kicked off with this article,

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You Can Grow Your Intelligence.

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New research shows the brain[br]can be developed like a muscle.

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And what they learned was this.

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There were these neurons in their brain,[br]and every time they pushed

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out of their comfort zone to[br]learn something new and hard,

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these neurons form new connections,[br]and over time, they could get smarter.

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Kids love this message.

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We'll never forget the boy[br]who looked up at as and

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said, you mean I don't have to be dumb?

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And look what happened.

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The students who just got the study skills[br]continued to show declining grades,

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but the students who learned the growth[br]mindset have the, whoop, here we go.

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Have the motivation to put those skills[br]into practice to grow their brain.

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And they showed a big[br]rebound in their grades.

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Is it ever too late,[br]we wanted to know are there ever students

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who are too far gone to[br]benefit from a growth mindset?

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So we recently completed this study,[br]13 high schools in the US.

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And we focused on the lowest[br]achieving students.

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Half of them learned,[br]half of them were in the control group.

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They just learned about the brain and[br]how they could enhance their memory.

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But the other half received online[br]lessons on the growth mindset.

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And, again, it's how the brain grows[br]through learning when they work on new and

0:15:53.620,0:15:54.760
difficult things.

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The first thing we found was[br]that just three months later,

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Those who had learned the growth[br]mindset lesson already had higher

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grade point averages and[br]the second thing we found

0:16:14.120,0:16:19.610
was that those who did not have[br]the growth mindset training were

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failing more and more courses, but[br]those who did get the growth mindset

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messages were failing fewer and[br]fewer courses over time.

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We're doing a lot of new work[br]now showing that the growth

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mindset learning the growth mindset,[br]keeps the student in school.

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Fewer drop outs helps them make[br]that transition to university

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and we're also doing a whole new line[br]of work with bullying and aggression,

0:16:59.190,0:17:05.380
and showing that teaching a growth[br]mind set about personal qualities

0:17:05.380,0:17:11.790
lowers students tendency[br]to react with aggression.

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So we're very,

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very excited about these new places[br]that we're taking the growth mind set.

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So, is the growth mindset for everyone?

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Does everyone wanna get smarter?

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Well, I know when I was a kid,[br]we would have done anything for

0:17:30.524,0:17:32.009
a few more IQ points.

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In fact, my sixth grade teacher seated us

0:17:35.948,0:17:40.229
around the room in IQ order and[br]you could not.

0:17:40.229,0:17:43.980
It was already the highest[br]IQ class in the school.

0:17:43.980,0:17:48.694
But if you weren't the highest[br]IQ person in that class,

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you were not allowed to[br]erase the blackboard or

0:17:52.607,0:17:58.548
carry a note to the principal or[br]carry the flag In the school assembly.

0:17:58.548,0:18:01.686
So if someone said, hey,[br]do you want more IQ points?

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Yes, tell me how.

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But in a really fascinating new study,

0:18:09.412,0:18:14.194
Stephanie Fryberg took the growth mindset

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concept into Native American culture and

0:18:18.843,0:18:26.544
she went back to her Native American[br]reservation where she grew up and

0:18:26.544,0:18:32.220
she brought the growth mind set with her.

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At first, it didn't take.

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The kids weren't that[br]excited about getting some

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more neuro connections in their brain.

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But when she made it culturally relevant,

0:18:48.456,0:18:52.792
relevant to the tribal values,[br]it could fire.

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When she said, you can grow your brain.

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And when you grow your brain,[br]you can really help your family and

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community thrive, it caught fire.

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She also instructed parents and[br]teachers in how to promote

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a growth mindset and[br]how to teach kids that every day,

0:19:17.430,0:19:24.260
six hours of school were devoted[br]to growing their brains.

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And if a child didn't pay attention or[br]cut up or misbehaved,

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they stayed in from recess and[br]teachers said, because we care about you,

0:19:39.210,0:19:43.820
we want you to have six hours[br]a day to grow your brain.

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This was an elementary school on[br]a Native American reservation.

0:19:51.790,0:19:54.740
90% minority and

0:19:54.740,0:20:00.590
the school had been in[br]the bottom 5% of the state.

0:20:02.240,0:20:03.540
Where are they now?

0:20:04.690,0:20:10.300
After a year to a year and[br]a half of this immersive growth mindset,

0:20:10.300,0:20:15.540
the kindergarteners and[br]first graders now lead their district and

0:20:15.540,0:20:20.775
it's an affluence surrounding[br]district in oral reading fluency.

0:20:20.775,0:20:24.691
95% of the kindergarteners and

0:20:24.691,0:20:31.988
80% of the first graders are proficient or[br]above in reading.

0:20:31.988,0:20:34.677
Third grade literacy.

0:20:34.677,0:20:42.250
68% of third grade students met or[br]were within ten points of the standard.

0:20:42.250,0:20:50.170
The previous fall, most of them had been[br]more than 100 points below standard.

0:20:50.170,0:20:54.868
Third to fifth grade, 60% of all students

0:20:54.868,0:20:59.939
were showing more than[br]a year of growth in math and

0:20:59.939,0:21:05.010
literacy and[br]at least half of those students were

0:21:05.010,0:21:09.976
showing 1.5 to 2 years[br]of growth each year.

0:21:09.976,0:21:14.693
Most important,[br]children now believe that their

0:21:14.693,0:21:19.082
potential as native[br]students was unlimited.

0:21:21.890,0:21:27.175
What I want you to take[br]away from here today

0:21:27.175,0:21:32.460
is this idea that within a fixed mindset,

0:21:32.460,0:21:37.896
effort and difficulty make you feel dumb,

0:21:37.896,0:21:40.622
make kids feel dumb.

0:21:40.622,0:21:45.396
But within a growth mindset,[br]effort and difficulty,

0:21:45.396,0:21:52.782
that's what gives you neural connections,[br]new connections and make you smarter.

0:21:52.782,0:21:56.428
Do you feel that difference?

0:21:56.428,0:22:01.842
So in summary, a growth mindset allows[br]students to embrace learning and

0:22:01.842,0:22:05.835
growth, to understand the role[br]of effort in creating

0:22:05.835,0:22:10.470
intelligence instead of making[br]them feel if they were smart.

0:22:10.470,0:22:13.097
They wouldn't need effort and

0:22:13.097,0:22:18.180
it allows them to be resilient[br]in the face of setbacks.

0:22:18.180,0:22:20.500
And best of all, it can be taught.

0:22:21.890,0:22:25.100
I'd like to end with this proposal.

0:22:26.830,0:22:32.480
The more research shows[br]us that human abilities

0:22:33.920,0:22:40.570
can be grown, the more it become a basic

0:22:40.570,0:22:46.060
human right for children to exist

0:22:46.060,0:22:51.930
in environments that help[br]them to grow those abilities,

0:22:51.930,0:22:57.905
to live in environments that help[br]them fulfill their potential.

0:22:57.905,0:22:59.824
Thank you.

0:22:59.824,0:23:05.522
[APPLAUSE]