Digital Story-Script

Your view of yourself can determine everything.

30 years ago Dr. Carol Dweck became interested in students’ attitudes towards failure. Some students rebounded quickly from failures while others were devastated by small setbacks. Dr. Dweck and her team studied the behavior of thousands of children and coined the terms “fixed mindset” and “growth Mindset.”  In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. If you can change your mindset, you can change your mind.

People often believe that they are either born smart, or they are not smart. The growth mindset tells us that anyone can be smart, you just have to work hard!

Neuroscientists studied what happens in our brain when we make mistakes. You can choose to give up and stop trying OR you can learn from what you did wrong and do it better next time!  Mistakes help you to grow smarter. When we make mistakes we learn from them and  our brain actually rewires itself.

 Dweck and her team discovered that your brain is like a muscle. When you challenge your brain you are giving it “exercise” and you get smarter. Research on brain plasticity has shown how connectivity between neurons can change with experience. 

Our brain is made up of neurons. When neurons connect they send signals to talk to each other. Everything we are able to do happens because our neurons connect. We have the power to change how our neurons are wired together and learn to do things that you never thought you could do. This is done simply by learning challenging things and making mistakes along the way. With practice, neural networks grow new connections, strengthen existing ones, and build insulation that speeds transmission of impulses. 

How do we move from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset? It can be as easy as changing your words! Change your words, change your mindset!

Instead of….

I made a mistake.	Mistakes help me learn.
This is too hard.	This may take some time and effort.
This is too easy.	How can I challenge myself and improve?
I’ll never be as smart as that person.	Everyone is talented in many ways.
I can’t do this.	I can’t do this YET.

 If you can change your mindset, you  change your mind!