6.3 Growth mindset
Carol Dweck found in her research that those who believed in the plasticity of the brain or ‘growth mindset’ achieved more success in many different areas of life than those with a more ‘fixed mindset’ (Dweck, 2006). A growth mindset is based on the belief that you can change your brain through your own efforts. Further research by Dweck has shown that adopting a growth mindset results in an increase in students’ academic performance.
Ultimately, the application of metacognition, embracing failure and adopting a growth mindset can lead to:
- independence in learning
- the ability to stand out from the crowd
- enhanced creative thinking and problem-solving skills
- greater academic and workplace success
- improved employability prospects
- increased self-esteem and confidence
- reduced stress and anxiety.
Impact on academic studies
According to Eide and Eide (2011), the dyslexic brain has ‘the ability to perceive relationships like analogies, metaphors, paradoxes, similarities, differences, implications, gaps and imbalances’ (p. 5) and ‘unite all kinds of information about a particular object or thought into a single global or big picture view’ (p. 84).
Therefore, students with dyslexia can:
- excel at being curious and creative, and seeing connections where others don’t
- make new connections between old ideas, which is very useful in assignments
- create and deliver more interesting and convincing presentations
- produce writing that’s more perceptive and unique, because they have made the ideas their own
- learn ‘how’ to think, not just ‘what’ to think
- see problems and solutions from a different perspective.
See setbacks as learning opportunities – and if at first you don’t succeed, keep trying.