Dave Sabol

On my ride into work, I heard a story on NPR that really caught my attention. It was based on a new study that conducted by Carol S. Dweck from Stanford University that was published in Child Development that showed if you teach students that their intelligence can grow and increase, they do better in school. Based on what I heard in the story, her premise was:

“All children develop a belief about their own intelligence. Some students start thinking of their intelligence as something fixed, as carved in stone. They worry about, ‘Do I have enough? Don’t I have enough?’”

Dweck went onto explore questions such as: “whether a child’s belief about intelligence has anything to do with academic success”. After successfully answering that question: it does, she went on to partner with Lisa Blackwell, from Columbia University to delve into the topic more thoroughly. They wanted to know: “If we gave students a growth mindset, if we taught them how to think about their intelligence, would that benefit their grades?”

Again, the answer was yes.

Now I am definitely an educator through-and-through and feel that anything that helps teachers provide students with tools they can use to increase or realize their potential is a very positive contribution, but I can’t help but feel that this study appears to be a case of science proving the obvious.

I am not trying to say that I had already thought of the idea, but it did seem to be an underlying theme in my graduate education. Truthfully, it doesn’t appear to be too different (at least from my perspective) than the widely referenced Pygmalion effect (also known as the Rosenthal effect or the teacher-expectancy effect) which essentially states that students that are held to higher expectations by their teachers will perform better than students who are not.

Now it isn’t a direct correlation, but I believe the premise is the same. If one is held to a set of expectations (good or bad) or one has a certain belief (good or bad) that result will generally be realized. It only stands to reason that if you spend time with students and not only teach them that they are capable of achieving whatever they set their minds to, and simultaneously show them that you believe in them, they will achieve it.

In fact I believe it was Napoleon Hill who is quoted as saying: “What the mind of man can conceive and believe, It can achieve.”

Again, I am not trying to find fault with the results of the study because the concept may have previously been more anecdotal as opposed to research-based, and therefore less likely to be supported. By taking the time to examine the idea more exhaustively, the Dweck and Blackwell were able to validate it and make it far more likely to see wide-spread use in classrooms worldwide. Everybody wins because of their work…and that is a good thing.

I do have one question revolving around the generalizability of the findings. The core of the study appears to be based on middle school students in a general education setting. Personally, I would love to know if the results would be applicable and validate for at-risk students, students with special needs and even adult learners. My experience with these populations tells me that it would, but again that is only my opinion. It’s obvious that this study could pave the way for some additional, potentially breakthrough, research.