FLC: Grit and the Growth Mindset
Angela Duckworth defines grit as the power of passion and perseverance for long term goals, be they academic, professional, or personal (Duckworth, 2016). Grit entails “working strenuously toward challenges and maintaining effort and interest over years despite failures and adversity and plateaus in progress“ (Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, & Kelly, 2007, p. 1087). Grit is a character trait many believe should be cultivated in students to enhance their academic perseverance and success.
It is not intelligence that makes people excel in a given area but rather effort and practice. The new neural networks that form as a result of hard work and effort are what make us smarter, not our innate abilities. Growth mindset learners believe that new abilities can be developed through practice. Fixed mindset learners believe that intelligence is fixed and avoid challenges for fear of failure (Dweck, 2016). Research suggests that by fostering a growth mindset in our students, we can achieve better learning outcomes.
The desire to bolster grit and the growth mindset has been identified across the Pomona and Lebanon campuses. In response to this, we are launching a Grit and the Growth Mindset FLC for the 2019-20 Academic Year. This FLC will aim to identify and pilot teaching and learning strategies that promote grit and the growth mindset among WesternU students and measure the impact of these upon student learning. Findings emerging from this process will be disseminated to the campus and educational research communities.
References:
Duckworth, A. (2016). Grit: The power of passion and perseverance. New York, NY: Scribner.
Duckworth, A., Peterson, C., Matthews, M.D., & Kelly, D.R. (2007). Grit: Perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(6), 1087-1101.
Dweck, C.S. (2016) Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York, NY: Ballantine Books.