Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Mindsets: the state of the art

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

I'm somewhat sceptical about the concept of 'mindsets'. At best, I would characterize them as 'beliefs' or at best, 'frames' (in the sense George Lakoff uses them). But some mindsets seem to be particularly important to some educators, to the point even that PISA evaluated them in its 2018 study. For example, they asked students to respond to the statement "Your intelligence is something about you that you can't change very much." Well, you may believe one thing or another, and it depends a lot on what the word 'intelligence' means, but this to me is an empirical question. But the response is supposed to reveal whether someone has a 'growth mindset'. The idea - and it's discussed a bit in this article - is that the correct mindset might lead to better educational outcomes. Well what if it does? What if believing a false thing led to better outcomes?

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
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Last Updated: Dec 25, 2024 08:26 a.m.

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