GROWTH MINDSET & MY BRAIN -
LESSON 5:
LEARNING ANYTHING
· THINGS TO ASK FOR MIGHT BE
o SOUR TASTING FRUIT, VEGETABLES, TYPES OF MEAT
o MAKES OF CARS, MODES OF TRANSPORT
o SPORTS TEAMS, SPORTS, SPORTS PEOPLE
o COUNTRIES, MOUNTAINS, OCEANS, CONTINENTS, ETC
o MOVIES, TV SHOWS, ENTERTAINERS
o ITALIAN FOODS, ASIAN CUISINE
o WAYS TO STAY FIT
o EMOTIONS
o WORDS STARTING WITH A CERTAIN LETTER
VARIATIONS
· HAVE ONE PERSON IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CIRCLE. THIS PERSON PROVIDES THE CATEGORY AND THE STARTING POINT, AND STUDENTS GO CLOCKWISE AROUND THE CIRCLE UNTIL ONE PERSON FALTERS. THAT STUDENT TAKES THE PLACE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CIRCLE.
NOTES
· TELL STUDENTS NOT TO WATCH THE BALL GO ROUND WHEN THEY’RE ’IT’ - THEY’LL JUST PANIC AND FREEZE. TRY THIS WITH CLOSED EYES.
PURPOSE: STRETCHING THE BRAIN, THINKING CREATIVELY ON YOUR FEET AND GETTING ENERGIZED AT THE START OF A DAY. "THE PASSION FOR STRETCHING YOURSELF AND STICKING TO IT, EVEN (OR ESPECIALLY) WHEN IT'S NOT GOING WELL, IS THE HALLMARK OF THE GROWTH MINDSET." (Carol Dweck, 2006)
PART 1- (5 MINUTES)
Rationale
When students have been tracked over challenging school transitions, such as moving to high school, researchers have found that those with the growth mindset out-achieve those with the fixed mindset. In a study of over 400 students who were followed across the transition to high school, those students who displayed a fixed mindset showed poorer motivation, less resilience in the face of difficulty and lower academic achievement over the subsequent two years. By contrast, those who had a growth mindset demonstrated improving academic achievement over the subsequent two years (Blackwell, Trzesniewski & Dweck, 2007).
Learning objectives
By the end of this lesson, learners should:
prepare a hypothesis and brief supporting arguments on the topic "you can learn anything"
participate in a debate about growth mindsets and learning
PART 2- HOMEWORK REVIEW- (5-10 MINUTES)
Reflections on last week's homework tasks.
Beginning to learn to juggle, writing with the opposite hand, brushing teeth with the opposite hand, or whatever task you took on...
Which challenge did you tackle?
Students are to discuss their journey, improvement (if there was any) and findings with the class.
After the discussion, reflect on what we can learn from this process of re-training our brain.
INVITE VOLUNTEERS- two or three students might even like to volunteer to share their new skill with the class. They should explain the process they used:
- did they find a mentor, watch a video or just use trial and error to learn the skill?
- what obstacles / road blocks did they face? what helped them move past these things?
- how much practice did they do on this skill?
- do they think they could get much better with more practice or only a little bit better from their current point? Why / why not?
PART 3- LEARNING ANYTHING GROUP AND CLASS DISCUSSION- (25 MINUTES)
Students are to form groups of 4 or 5 and consider this statement:
"YOU REALLY CAN LEARN ANYTHING."
In their groups, students should discuss and record a number of points for both sides of this argument. (10 mins).
Next they should choose a side that they most agree with (explain to students that we are looking for critical thinking and discussion so they may even need to be allocated to a side to argue, in order to get roughly even numbers of groups on each side of the argument). Each group is to select a spokesperson. This person will share the 3 major arguments / points of the group with the class.
The teacher to facilitate the discussion between the class (10-15 mins). Students should be welcomed to respectfully counter, question or seek clarification on points being made.
PART 4- OPTIONAL "STRETCH YOUR BRAIN" CHALLENGE- (10-15 minutes)
Students to work in pairs or small groups for 6-8 minutes, in order to solve as many of these "brain stretching" puzzles as possible.
Teachers click here for the link to the answers.
Teachers arrange for students to mark the work of another group as they share the answers.
DEBRIEF: This activity highlights that the brain is like a muscle and we should challenge it to think in new and different ways. We can all "stretch" our brains.