The Power of Yet: Nurturing Growth Mindset in Education

Embracing the "power of yet" fosters a growth mindset, leading to resilience and perseverance in the face of challenges.

### The Power of Yet: Fostering a Growth Mindset for Success and Equality
* 🎓 "Not yet" as a grade for students who don't pass exams provides a **positive learning curve**, fostering a **growth mindset**.
* 🧠 Children with a growth mindset understand that their abilities can grow through **hard work**, while those with a fixed mindset feel **devastated by challenges**.
* 🧠 Fixed mindset individuals are gripped by the "**tyranny of now**," leading to negative behaviors like **cheating, avoiding difficulty, or seeking superiority over others**.
* 🧠 Praising kids for their process, hard work, strategies, focus, and perseverance helps them learn to **embrace challenges and seek resilience**.
* 🎮 Rewarding effort, strategy, and progress in educational games, like the Brain Points math game, promotes **sustained learning and perseverance**.
* 🧠 Teaching students that **pushing out of their comfort zone** and **sticking to learning hard things** can help their brains form new, stronger connections leads to **significant grade improvements**.
* 🏫 Creating growth mindset environments in education can lead to **equality and transformative outcomes**, as seen in various examples of teachers and schools achieving **remarkable success** through it.

Thank you. Today, I want to tell you about the power of yet. I learned in High School in Chicago where students had to pass eighty four unity to graduate, and if they didn't pass, they got the grade not yet. I thought, isn't that wonderful? Because if you fail, you're nowhere, but if you get the grade not yet, you're on a learning curve. Not yet gave them a path into the future. And not yet also helped me understand a critical experience early in my career. To figure out how kids cope with challenge, I gave ten-year-olds some problems that were a little too difficult for them. Some of them reacted in a shockingly positive way. They said things like, I love a challenge! or I was hoping this would be informative! They understood that their abilities could grow through their hard work. They had what I would call a growth mindset. But for other children, it was tragic, catastrophic from their more fixed mindset perspective.

their core intelligence had been tested and devastated. Instead of the power of yet, they were gripped by the tyranny of now. So, what did they do next? In one study, after a failure on a test, they said they'd cheat next time instead of study more. In another study, they found someone who did worse than they did so they could feel better. And in many studies, we found they run from difficulty. Let's look at how that looks in the brain. Moser and his colleagues measured from the brain as kids encountered errors. Processing the error shows up in red. If you look at the fixed mindset brain on the left, nothing is happening. But if you look at the growth mind-set on the right, it's on fire with yet! They're processing the error deeply, learning from it, and correcting it. So, how are we raising our kids? Are we raising them for a growth now or for yet?

Are they focused on the next A or test score, instead of dreaming big? Instead of thinking about what they want to be and how they want to contribute to society? And if they are too focused on A's and test scores, are they going to carry this with them into the future? Maybe, because many employers are coming to me and saying, we've already created a generation of young workers who can't get through the day without a reward. So, what can we do? How can we build that bridge to yet? First, we can praise wisely. Our research shows that when we praise kids for the process they engage in, for their hard work, their strategies, their focus, their perseverance - they learn that challenge seeking. They learn that resilience. Praising talent, praising intelligence makes them vulnerable. There are other ways of rewarding yet. We teamed up with game scientist at the University of Washington to create a math game: Brain

points. The typical math game rewards right answers,
right now. But not Brain Points. We rewarded process and the learning curve,
so effort, strategy, and progress. The Brain Points game created more sustained
learning and perseverance than the standard game. And just the words yet and not yet after
a student has a setback, we're finding creates greater confidence and greater persistence. We also can change students' mindsets directly. In one study, we taught students that every
time they pushed out of their comfort zone to learn something really hard and
they stuck to it, the neurons in their brain could form new, stronger connections and over
time they could become smarter. Those who learned this lesson showed a sharp
increase in their grades. Those who did not showed a decrease. We have done this with thousands of students
now across the country with similar results. Especially for struggling students. So let's talk about equality. In our country, there are groups of kids who
chronically show poor performance and many

people think that's inevitable. But when educators create growth mind-set
environments, steeped in yet equality can happen. Let me give you a few small examples. One teacher took her Harlem kindergarten class,
many of whom could not hold a pencil for the first month, threw daily tantrums. She took
them to the 95th percentile on the National Achievement Test. That same teacher took a fourth-grade class
in the South Bronx - way behind. She took them to the top of New York State on the state
math test. That teacher is a Stanford grad, and she's
here today. And another Stanford grad, Ph.D. student, now
a professor, went back to her Native American reservation in the state of Washington. She transformed the elementary school in terms
of a growth mind-set. That school had always been at the bottom
of the district - at the bottom of the state! Within a year to a year and a half, the kindergarteners
and first graders were at the top of the district.

in reading and reading-readiness. That district contained affluent sections
of Seattle, so the reservation kids outdid the Microsoft kids. And they did it because learning a growth
mindset transformed the meaning of effort and difficulty. It used to mean they were dumb, and now it
means they have a chance to get smarter. Difficulty just meant not yet. Last year, I got a letter from a thirteen-year-old
boy. He said, Dear Professor Dweck, I read your
book. I liked the fact that it was based on sound
scientific research. That's why I decided to test out your growth
mindset principles in three areas of my life. As a result, I'm earning higher grades, I
have a better relationship with my parents, I have a better relationship with the other
kids at school. I realize I've wasted most of my life. Let's not waste any more lives because the
more we know that basic human abilities can be grown, the more it becomes a basic human
right for kids - all kids, all adults - to

live in environments that create that growth. To live in environments filled - overflowing
- with yet. Thank you.

Developing a Growth Mindset with Carol Dweck

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Students in a Chicago high school were given the grade "not yet" for failing to pass a requirement, emphasizing a path for continuous learning.

The concept of "yet" illustrates the difference between a fixed mindset, where failure is devastating, and a growth mindset, where challenges are embraced for learning and development.

Research shows that a growth mindset, focused on "yet," leads to better problem-solving and resilience in the face of failure.

Students' focus on grades and test scores may hinder their ability to dream big and contribute to society in the future.

Praising the process and effort, rather than innate talent, can help build resilience and a willingness to take on challenges.

Introducing rewards for effort and progress, instead of just right answers, can lead to more sustained learning and perseverance, as seen in the Brain Points math game.

Teaching students that they can become smarter over time, and supporting them in stepping out of their comfort zone, has been shown to significantly improve their grades and mindset, especially beneficial for struggling students.

Educators have the power to transform students' academic performance through a growth mindset.

A teacher in Harlem and the South Bronx, as well as a professor in a Native American reservation, successfully raised students' achievement levels by instilling a growth mindset.

The adoption of a growth mindset not only improved academic performance but also enhanced relationships and overall well-being for students.

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