4 Ways to Promote Growth Mindset in PBL
Mar 4, 2016 by Charity Parsons, Ed.S.
Here are Four Ways to Promote Growth Mindset in PBL:
1. Build the Culture
Help students learn from failures. In a recent Google Hangout on Building the Culture in Gold Standard PBL, fellow National Faculty member Jeanine Leys told a story about how her school celebrates failure. They even use a classroom tool called “raindrops and rainbows” to keep track of failed ideas and how they are necessary for eventual success. In his book Freedom to Fail, Andrew Miller offers a bevy of strategies for ensuring that students experience small, constructive failures as a means to greater achievement. How will you celebrate failure in your classroom?
2. Manage Activities to include Critique & Revision
Carol Dweck reminds us that constructive criticism is feedback that helps the student understand how to fix something. This rings true to the Gold Standard PBL practice of Critique & Revision.
4. Sustained Inquiry
When you design the Student Learning Guide and Project Calendar, build in opportunities for scaffolded challenges and sustained inquiry over time. Sustained Inquiry promotes growth mindset; students can take ownership of their learning as it is developed over a process of time.
One strategy to achieve sustained inquiry over time begins with the Question Formulation Technique. Students create a list of questions, frequently revisit questions, and pose new questions to affirm all students’ intellectual abilities as they grow. This way, students gain a sense of learning and persistence in meeting the task at hand.
Click here for more ideas and resources on Sustained Inquiry within Gold Standard PBL.
No matter which strategy you choose, always remember to communicate high expectations and assure your students taht you will support them as they T-R-Y…Try! There’s nothing better than a TRY to defeat failure and promote growth mindset.
Are you promoting growth mindset in your PBL classroom? Give these strategies a try and let us know how it goes in the comments below or on Twitter @iDoSchool.
This post is in partnershp with Buck Institute for Education (BIE) as part of a blog campaign titled Getting Smart on Edu Blogging. BIE national faculty are writing about how project-based learning (PBL) is engaging students and transforming classrooms and schools. To engage in professional learning about PBL, check out the upcoming conference PBL World in Napa Valley June 13-16 and join in on the conversation using #PBLWorld.
1. Build the Culture
Help students learn from failures. In a recent Google Hangout on Building the Culture in Gold Standard PBL, fellow National Faculty member Jeanine Leys told a story about how her school celebrates failure. They even use a classroom tool called “raindrops and rainbows” to keep track of failed ideas and how they are necessary for eventual success. In his book Freedom to Fail, Andrew Miller offers a bevy of strategies for ensuring that students experience small, constructive failures as a means to greater achievement. How will you celebrate failure in your classroom?
2. Manage Activities to include Critique & Revision
Carol Dweck reminds us that constructive criticism is feedback that helps the student understand how to fix something. This rings true to the Gold Standard PBL practice of Critique & Revision.
- Build in checkpoints for students to have opportunities to revise and improve their work.
- Formulate a system to teach students to examine each other’s work and provide suggestions for improvement.
- When managing a project, using protocols for peer critique can harness the power of criticism.
- from teacher to student;
- from peer to peer;
- from expert to student.
4. Sustained Inquiry
When you design the Student Learning Guide and Project Calendar, build in opportunities for scaffolded challenges and sustained inquiry over time. Sustained Inquiry promotes growth mindset; students can take ownership of their learning as it is developed over a process of time.
One strategy to achieve sustained inquiry over time begins with the Question Formulation Technique. Students create a list of questions, frequently revisit questions, and pose new questions to affirm all students’ intellectual abilities as they grow. This way, students gain a sense of learning and persistence in meeting the task at hand.
Click here for more ideas and resources on Sustained Inquiry within Gold Standard PBL.
No matter which strategy you choose, always remember to communicate high expectations and assure your students taht you will support them as they T-R-Y…Try! There’s nothing better than a TRY to defeat failure and promote growth mindset.
Are you promoting growth mindset in your PBL classroom? Give these strategies a try and let us know how it goes in the comments below or on Twitter @iDoSchool.
This post is in partnershp with Buck Institute for Education (BIE) as part of a blog campaign titled Getting Smart on Edu Blogging. BIE national faculty are writing about how project-based learning (PBL) is engaging students and transforming classrooms and schools. To engage in professional learning about PBL, check out the upcoming conference PBL World in Napa Valley June 13-16 and join in on the conversation using #PBLWorld.