M2 U1 Activity 1: Inspirations and Dispositions for Teaching (Video 2)
A growth mindset can lead to divergent thinking or expanding the possible solutions to a problem. Through reading, I have learned, and agree that divergent thinking is the basis of creativity, and this results in innovation (https://study.com/academy/lesson/growth-mindset-innovation-creativity-in-organizations.html), and a growth mindset can help learners to have a lifelong love of learning and be more open to new information.
Traditional education makes creative thinking become challenging because the traditional school system heavily emphasizes “analytical thinking” instead of “creative thinking”. Students are used to the “one right answer” approach rather than exposed to “open-ended problems ”with a number of potential solutions.
This is not helpful to students in their life. The future environment is transitioning from a “knowledge” to a ”creative” economy, and half of the world's jobs are being replaced by new technologies and machines. Moreover, for teachers to truly have a growth mindset, they need to embrace technology, however I also think a lot of teachers are scared of technology. This is something I have been trying to do over the last years, particularly due to having to teach online.
Here are some of my ideas to help children to build a growth mindset.
1. Practice the creative work
Practice makes it better! Our brain also grows when it tries to create new things. Creativity helps to look at the problem from different perspectives or/and requires making connections between unrelated things. So we can encourage students to think independently and explore ideas outside of mainstream norms to come up with original ideas and create something new. For example: Building with Lego, recycling rubbish to create something useful.
2. Teach and encourage how to accept mistakes:
Making mistakes is the natural part of learning progress" especially when we take on challenges, so there is no need to be afraid and avoid them. Teachers can share students' failures and how they overcame them, so they learn from mistakes to approach failure with a problem-solving mindset. This builds perseverance towards challenging problems and creative confidence.
3. Use a better method to praise students:
By focusing on the process our students engaged, and the part they are able to change and improve rather than something they can not handle and control. For example, You are such a patient person as you didn’t give up even when the task was hard, I really appreciate your effort and hard work. Instead, you are clever, smart, or intelligent.
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