Curriculum

Developing a Growth Mindset with RoyalABC

Professor Carol Dweck believes people have two basic mindsets: fixed and growth. Mindsets are the implicit beliefs we hold about our core abilities and intelligence. People with a fixed mindset believe that their ability and intelligence are largely fixed and outside of their control, where people with a growth mindset believe that intelligence and ability are developed through hard work and effort over time.

The consequences of believing that intelligence and personality can be developed rather than being fixed, as Dweck discovered in her research with both children and adults, are remarkable. In her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Dweck says, “Believing that your qualities are carved in stone creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over. If you have only a certain amount of intelligence, a certain personality, and a certain moral character, well then you’d better prove that you have a healthy dose of them. It simply wouldn’t do to look or feel deficient in these most basic characteristics.”

Dweck says the fixed mindset can negatively impact all aspects of life. But when you start viewing things as variable and changing, the situation shifts to a less binary and more longitudinal view of learning. In this mindset, your current capability is just the starting point for development.

“Growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts. Although people may differ in every which way in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests, or temperaments, everyone can change and grow through application and experience.”

So how does this apply to learning, and what can teachers and parents do to help instil this attitude in their students and children? In a study of hundreds of students, Dweck and her colleagues found that students with a fixed mindset will reject learning if it means they may fail. Students were asked to complete difficult problems from a nonverbal IQ test, then praised for their performance. Some were praised for ability and others for effort. Dweck said the findings confirmed her research: “The ability praise pushed students right into the fixed mindset…When we gave them a choice, they rejected a challenging new task that they could learn from. When students were praised for effort, 90 percent of them wanted the challenging new task that they could learn from.”

For the effort-praised kids, the difficulty was simply an indication that they had to put in more effort, not a sign of failure or a reflection of their poor intellect. “When you enter a mindset, you enter a new world. In one world, effort is a bad thing. It, like failure, means you’re not smart or talented. If you were, you wouldn’t need effort. In the other world, effort is what makes you smart or talented. Not only are people with this mindset not discouraged by failure, but they don’t actually see themselves as failing in those situations–they see themselves as learning.”

Growth mindset is the backbone of RoyalABC’s educational offering and fully integrated into all areas of our programme and RoyalABC World, helping teachers to help their students learn British English, 21st century skills and excel at life and language. People with a growth mindset embrace learning, constantly seeking to learn and grow, which is why for students and teachers, learning and applying growth mindset principles is so critical, especially in language learning.

The adversity that children experience both in and out of school can affect their psychology, with significant consequences for learning. Carol Dweck with Gregory Walton and Geoffery Cohen undertook a research project for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to establish how to foster academic tenacity, and simple tips to embed these practices in the classroom. Professor Carol Dweck was an integral part of the development of RoyalABC’s growth mindset integration and her work remains globally recognised in this field.

Interested in learning more about growth mindset? Click here to find out more.

21st Century Skills

RoyalABC British English lessons are strategically designed by our globally experienced team to fully integrate traditional language learning with 21st century skills and growth mindset. RoyalABC uses a blended learning approach to classroom teaching where lessons are designed to be student-centred. This is designed to encourage collaborative learning experiences where students work together, teaching, guiding and assisting each other through interactions that maximise learning and development. Our blended learning lessons allow teachers to leverage technology in the classroom to maximise RoyalABC’s learning objectives. The Teacher Platform, and its hundreds of hours of pre-built activities, offers assistance for teachers through language being modelled by a first language British English speaker, allowing consistency of delivery.

Blended Learning

For the at-home play component in RoyalABC World, the same blended learning philosophy is applied to the curriculum, using a combination of activities done via our RoyalABC World APP and non-digital learning. This may be self-directed home-play revision and exploration or activities enjoyed with parents and siblings. This approach encourages students to become active learners and provides student autonomy – a key element of the development of 21st century skills. Research has shown the benefits of blending class and home-based language learning activities, giving students the opportunity to practise language taught in the classroom in a less structured, more free environment. This allows for spaced repetition of words and concepts, leading to the majority of new learning being retained by the students. Rewards for effort and achievement are reinforced by parents and through RoyalABC World.