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Importance of cognitive development in infancy and toddlerhood essay
Importance of cognitive development in infancy and toddlerhood essay
Importance of cognitive development in infancy and toddlerhood essay
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Before reading any of the articles that I will be discussing with you, I have always believed that not a lot of people had similar learning habits, let alone have a title for it. “Growth and fixed mindset” and struggling to succeed in areas you lack skills in is very common especially amongst Western cultures. As you read, you will see that in my story I had an experience where I came into a class with a fixed mindset and I left the school with a more mature concept, not fully developed and where I’d like it to be, but close enough!
I was assigned to read two articles, one named “Struggle for Smarts” written by Alix Spiegel and the other called “Brainology,” written by Carol S. Dweck. As I was reading Spiegel’s “Struggle for Smarts,” I was
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In Dweck’s article, “Brainology,” she says “Children praised for their intelligence lost their confidence as soon as the problems got more difficult” (3). I believe Dweck’s theory was correct because in my case being told “Wow, great job, you’re so smart!” made me think that I should always opt for the easy problems so I can continue to be praised and be called “smart.” She stated that the kids who end up with a “growth mindset” get told things like “…..You must have worked really hard” because that made them maintain their motivation and performance. (3). So, when my teacher announced that the math final was coming up and gave us all study guides, I went straight to my tutors and did all of the math problems, with no notes, and I felt really good about myself, even my teacher was shocked, but I am very proud that I did that and accomplished my goal because I proved her wrong; I know she was thinking that I was a “dumb” student who didn’t try. I wouldn’t say that after that experience, I had a growth mindset, but I definitely believe that I am in the middle of a fixed and growth mindset. Now when I don’t succeed at something, I always put my best foot
As Dweck explains, children who are praised for their intelligence does not want to learn hence develop a fixed mindset. A fixed mindset is where people believe that their qualities such as talent and intelligence are essentially fixed traits. Such people would only concentrate on documenting their intelligence instead of looking for ways for developing the same. In addition, these people make the assumption that their intelligence would make them successful. On the other hand, a growth mindset is where people are aware that it is possible to develop their abilities through hard work and dedication. When I was in Grade 7, a teacher encouraged all students that they all had the ability to perform well in science. After the initial interaction, the teacher was aware that a certain percentage of the class performed way below average; yet, he did not water down their spirit. I remember the way he used to acknowledge even some insignificant improvement made in his tests by comments such as “You are making good progress so far”. Primarily, this teacher focused on the perseverance, strategies, and efforts the students put towards improvement as opposed to praising talent (Dweck 5). The result was that we changed our attitude and focused more on self-improvement.
It was not until I read Carol S. Dweck’s “Brainology” that I realized I had a fixed mindset. I care more about getting a 4.0 than actually understanding what I am being taught and I also hate struggling. These habits are part of having a fixed mindset. It was after reading this article that I discovered I could change my mindset and be successful. Having a fixed mindset means that you believe that you and others only have a certain amount of intelligence. A growth mindset on the other hand, is believing that everyone has the ability to reach a higher level of intelligence through effort and hardwork.
In “Can You Build a Better Brain”, the author, Sharon Begley discusses how the cognition processes better. He starts by presenting some experiments that prove nutrition did not support the brain smarter. According to the article, he believes that the “cognitive capacity” can be amended by concentration in people’s behavior. He further believes that people’s intelligence do not depend on own skills; however, as long as people peceive new things, their synapses and brain systems will
Meaning that when children grow up with praise such as “oh you must have been so smart to get an A on that test”, instead of “you must have worked really hard on that lesson”, children could take the praise to their intelligence the wrong way and think that since they are “smart” instead of their effort on a task which will cause them problems in the future and they might want to give up and quit. I have seen this first hand and this has actually happened to me before, so I know from experience that this could have a negative effect impact on a student not just students in elementary school but also adults who are going to college or young adults who are looking for a job. In contrast, some students love to get that kind of compliment but they would always end up expecting that so when I work with children I will be complimenting them on the effort they put into everything that they do. From now on, I will be praising children on their effort and not on their
People with growth mind-sets often believe that one can succeed simply by trying and having the motivation to do so. On the other hand, those with fixed mind-sets believe they are either good or bad at something, while attempting something for the first time. If one can easily do math while another can’t, the one who can’t accepts it and doesn’t feel the need to try succeeding further because they’re just not good at it in the first place.
What does it mean to be a fixed mindset versus a growth mindset? In the book Mindset – The New Psychology of Success author Carol Dweck breaks down the meanings of a fixed mindset versus a growth mindset. A fixed mindset is when a person sees their failures as being an unsuccessful person. These fixed mindsets do not aim to challenge themselves due to the possibility of not succeeding or being seen dumb. They are discouraged by failing and hold back in life. Carol Dweck describes this has unhappiness. A growth mindset is a person who welcomes failures and takes these failures as a challenge to grow from their mistakes. They have the drive to push through the impossible, since to them there is no impossible. A Clear representation of growth
As far as I could remember I was never really any good at school. I couldn’t concentrate on things for no more than 5 minutes at a time I would either get discouraged or find it too easy and just give up. An author by the name of Carol Dweck wrote an article called “Brainology” in it Dweck describes that there are two types of mindsets fixed and growth. Those who are afraid to fail so they never try anything new are ones with a fixed mindset and the growth mindset are those who are not afraid to fail and find a new challenge an opportunity to learn something new. I guess you can say that I had a bit of a fixed mindset growing up I was always too scared to look stupid that I didn’t want to fail because I didn’t want to disappoint my siblings
It is evident that Gerald Graff’s article is bias because he avoids talking about acquiring academic intelligence through academic learning rather than non-academic ways. For instance, Graff shows bias when he generalizes our way of seeing educated life and academics. He said that, “We associate the educated life, the life of the mind, too narrowly and exclusively with subjects and texts that we consider inherently weighty and academic. We assume that it’s possible to wax intellectual about Plato, Shakespeare, the French Revolution, and nuclear fission, but not about cars, dating fashion, sports, TV, or video games.” (Graff 264-5). Graff clearly thinks that everyone associates educated life with academics, when in reality this is not true. He believes that
Learning is defined as a permanent change in attitude or behaviour that occurs as a result of repeated experience (Sims & Sims, 1995). Understanding one’s learning style has many advantages as it can help one to identify the learning method or activities that can help to optimise the learning experience. It has been suggested that the importance of one’s learning style has been identified through studies and research on how one can maximise the potential for success and further learning development (Honey & Mumford, 2006). Learning styles are unique to each individual and are developed in childhood (Chase, 2001). We all have different personalities; therefore we all have preferred learning styles that suit us best. The way one learns depends on preference. Some learn by observing, listening and imitating others and draw conclusions from their experience. There are several factors that affect our learning style; for example, background, culture, religion and environment can have a major influence on one’s learning.
In the article The Mindset of a Champion Carol Dweck explains how important the mindset of an athlete is. Dweck goes into great detail about the differences of a growth and fixed mindset and how it influences athletes and students, Dweck mentions some of the characteristics of someone with a fixed mindset and she does the same with someone with a growth mindset. Someone with a fixed mindset typically sees their abilities as a fixed trait, they also believe that talent is a gift you either have it or you don’t, in the contrary someone with a growth mindset usually believes that people can cultivate their abilities. Dweck also mentions how sometimes a person can hold one mindset about intelligence and another about sports. The central psychological concept of this article is how your mindset affects your motivation to excel in your sport or school work. In the article Dweck discusses a few experimental studies, she was a part of, in the first experiment she indicates her hypothesis: students with a fixed mindset were more likely to cheat or give up. Independent variable: a group of students given a test in a new subject. Dependent Variable: a group of students given a test in a subject they enjoy. they found that those with a fixed mindset were more likely to say that if they did poorly on a test, even if it were in a new course they would most likely study less or even cheat on the next test. This example, provides great proof of Dweck’s definition of a fixed mindset.
...est high school students in America” (Gladwell 82). It was shocking to learn that all the Nobel Prize in Medicine winners did not all come from the most prestigious schools. Also, in the third chapter I notices some aspects that were highly relatable to me. My life relates to subjects included in chapter three because I am a student. It is interesting and helpful to learn that one does not need the highest IQ to succeed in today’s world. This is how I relate to chapter three. The third chapter in Outlier by Malcolm Gladwell had striking information that stated that IQs do not always determine who will be successful, and I can relate to the information in the chapter because I am student who has thought about my IQ before.
Mix the importance that education has on the future of people’s lives and the benefits of a growth mindset has on people’s lives as well, and the realization of the impact that education of mindset would have on people would be jaw dropping. Every action taken in life is accredited by something that was taught at some point in an individual’s lifetime whether it be good or bad ("What Is Learning"). At a younger age things that are taught through an organized educational system tend to stay with the person longer, because it is the time that the brain is developing the most, and using neurodevelopmental functions. Neurodevelopmental functions are the different implements for learning and for applying what is learned (Levine 28). So the things educated should be as beneficial to the person as it could possibly be. So while the neurodevelopmental functions are at their highest, growth mindset should be embedded and made into a high priority neurodevelopmental function, so it can be implemented throughout an individual’s life. Also, if there was a way to educate about the growth mindset within the first five years of the person’s life it would only be more beneficial because recent research proves that the first five years are fundamentally important in developing a person’s brain, which mean the way they perceive certain things and the way they think about certain things, mindset, is being developed (“Facts for Life”). Through research and studies that have been done about the benefits of growth mindset, and also on education, we can conclude that anything can be taught and have an impact on an individual such as a mindset. Education about mindset would most certainly meet the criteria to benefit an individual's life to a great
The most exceptional of educated people have their mind filled with interfering thoughts. These people live within the fixed mindset, believing they have this “gift” and find themselves limiting their abilities and achievements. In Carol Dweck’s book, Mindset:The New Psychology of success, she explains that living in the opposite, growth mindset, can let you achieve endless obstacles with the love of learning and challenge. Your mindset is not just a mindset of your intelligence, but is a tale tell sign of the way you live your life. She discloses that in order to reach your full potential you must continually work at it, nothing comes naturally. The growth mindset is a result of many reasons such as someone believing in you, accepting that success is trying your best, setbacks are motivation, and also learning to take charge and keeping it up. Dweck illustrates that healthy growth mindset can help you live a fulfilling life regardless of the failures that are thrown at you.
A parent would easily prefer that their children not develop a fixed mindset about their capabilities because that would prevent them from responding well to obstacles. By focusing on a child’s effort, parents can encourage the development of a growth mindset. Children would benefit from understanding that their hard work can pay off when life starts getting difficult. If a child is thriving, however, it is imperative not to provide them with too much admiration for their efforts otherwise they may consider themselves having low ability. This can be equated to a soccer player who is congratulated for having the best effort on the team rather than being the team’s most valuable player. In order to foster growth mindsets, parents must convey to their children that what they accomplished was done through hard work and perseverance. Looking back at the Sally Forth comic example, it was not the best idea for Sally to tell her daughter what she did. As discussed before, it would have been better for Sally to inform her daughter that her abilities are malleable and will grow with hard work, instead of suggesting that her abilities were fixed and she had them even if she “were a full-blown idiot” (Marciuliano & Keefe,
I do believe that I have experienced both mindsets, but a fixed mindset has been more dominant in my life. I realized that I experienced a growth mindset during my DMV permit test. I actually failed my first try at it because I was told that it was just common sense and I didn’t feel like I needed to study. Then I failed, and it encouraged me to actually read the handbook and study. Surprisingly, I wasn’t upset after failing my first attempt. Instead, it actually made me realize that I should study. I would love to have experienced a growth mindset throughout my life, but unfortunately I know I grew up with a fixed mindset. Growing up I remember my parents telling me how smart I am every time I received good grades, and according to the article written by Carol Dweck, that isn’t the best way