The belief systems regarding our own abilities and potential feed our behaviour and predict our success. Understanding this greatly derives from the works of Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, who did a survey on the power of our conscious and unconscious beliefs. The simplest of these can have a deep impact on almost every aspect of our lives, starting with our school success. To sum up, people fluctuate between two MINDSETS:
The FIXED MINDSET, whereby people believe that their talents are innate gifts, leading them to think they have no effort to make.
The GROWTH MINDSET, whereby people think their talents may be developed (thanks to hard work, good strategies and input from others). These people tend to do more because they care less about seeming intelligent, and they spend more energy on learning.
During her research, Carol Dweck discovered that one of the most fundamental beliefs we have about ourselves is connected to the way we perceive and inhabit what we think is our personality. A great proportion of our behaviour and our relation to success and failure in both educational and personal situations derive from these two mindsets which we express from a very young age.
- To assess success, Dweck advises to watch our language and our use of it. She indicates that having pupils and students say “NOT YET” instead of “I failed” is a better way to show them that despite the difficulties they may have to overcome something now, if they do not give up the time will come when they succeed. But they must keep overcoming the obstacle by tackling it at different angles. The use of “YET” shows that one is on a learning curve and marks the process, not the result. It also tells the pupils and students that they do not learn simply to get grades today, but with their future in mind.
Based on this theory, the 6e pupils showed their creativity and offered this video to the students sitting the BACCLAUREAT in June. You can watch it here: