这是斯坦福著名心理学家、教育学家Carol Dweck在TED演讲上做的汇报，她为我们阐述了学习的生理本质：增强神经元之间的连接的意义与价值。更为我们揭示了学习的心理本质：迎接挑战，收获成长。非常值得一看！
I heard about a high school in Chicago where students had to pass a certain number of courses to graduate, and if they didn’t pass a course, they got the grade ”Not Yet”.And I thought that was fantastic, because if you get a failing grade, you think, I am nothing, I’m nowhere. But if you get the grade “Not Yet”, you understand that you’re on a learning curve. It gives you path into the future.
“Not Yet” also gave me insight into a critical event early in my career, a real turning point.I wanted to see how children coped with challenge and difficulty, so I gave10-year-olds problems that were slightly too hard for them. Some of them reacted in a shockingly positive way.
They said things like, “I love a challenge”, or, “You know, I was hoping this would be informative.” They understood that their abilities could be developed. They had what I call agrowth mindset. But other students felt it was tragic, catastrophic.
From the rmore fixed mindset perspective, their intelligence had been up for judgment and they failed. Instead of luxuriating in the power of yet, they were gripped in the tyranny of now.
So what do they do next? I’ll tell you what they do next. In one study, they told us they would probably cheat the next time instead of studying more if they failed a test. Inanother study, after a failure, they looked for someone who did worse than they did so they could feel really good about themselves.
And in study after study,they have run from difficulty. Scientists measured the electrical activity from the brain as students confronted an error. On the left, you see the fixed mindset students. There’s hardly any activity. They run from the error.
They don’t engage with it. But on the right, you have the students with the growthmindset, the idea that abilities can be developed. They engage deeply. Their brain is on fire with yet. They engage deeply. They process the error. They learn from it and they correct it.
How are we raising our children? Are we raising them for now instead of yet? Are we raising kids who are obsessed with getting A’s? Are we raising kids who don’t know how to dream big dreams? Their biggest goal is getting the next A or the next test score?
And are they carrying this need for constant validation with them into their future lives?Maybe, because employers are coming to me and saying , we have already raised ageneration of young workers who can’t get through the day without an award.
So what can we do?How can we build that bridge to yet? Here are some things we can do. First ofall, we can praise wisely, not praising intelligence or talent. That hasfailed.
Don’t do that anymore, but praising the process that kids engage in: theireffort, their strategies, their focus, their perseverance, their improvement. Thisprocess praise creates kids who are hardy and resilient.
There are otherways to reward yet. We recently teamed up with game scientists from theUniversity of Washington to create a new online math game that rewarded foreffort, strategy and progress. The usual math game rewards you for getting answers right right now.
But this game rewarded process. And we got more effort, more strategies, more engagement over longer periods of time, and more perseverancewhen they hit really, really hard problems.
Just the words “yet” or “not yet”, we’re finding, give kids greater confidence, give them a path into the future that creates greater persistence. And we can actually change students’mindsets.
In one study, we taught them that every time they push out of their comfort zone to learnsomething new and difficult, the neurons in their brain can form new stronger connections, and over time they can get smarter.
Look what happened: in this study, students who were not taught this growth mindset continued to show declining grades over this difficult school transition. But those who were taught this lesson showed a sharp rebound in their grades.
We have showed this now, this kind of improvement, with thousands and thousands of kids,especially struggling students. So let’s talk about equality. In our country,there are groups of students who chronically underperform, for example,children in inner cities, or children on Native American reservations.
And they’ve done so poorly for so long that many people think it’s inevitable. But when educators create growth mindset classrooms steeped in yet, equality happens.And here are just a few examples.
In one year, a kindergarten’s class inHarlem, Now York, scored in the 95th percentile on the National Achievement Test. Many of those kids could not hold a pencil when they arrivedat school.
In one year, fourth grade students in the South Bronx, way behind, became the number one fourth grade class in the State of New York on the statemath test. In a year to a year and a half. Native American students in a schoolon a reservation, went from the bottom of their district to the top, and thatdistrict included affluent sections of Seattle. So the native kids outdid the Microsoft Kids.
This happened because the meaning of effort and difficulty were transformed. Before, effort and difficulty made them feel dumb, made them feellike giving up. But now, effort and difficulty, that’s when their neurons aremaking new connections, stronger connections. That’s when they’re gettingsmarter.
I received aletter recently from a 13-year-olc boy. He said, “Dear Professor Dweck, I appreciate that your writing is based on solid scientific research, and that’s why I decided to put it into practice. I put more effort into my school work,my relationship with my family, and into my relationship with kids at school. And I experienced great improvement in all of those areas. I now realize I’ve wasted most of my life.”
Let’s not waste any more lives, because we know tha tabilities are capable of such growth, it becomes a basic human right for children, all children, to live a place that create that growth, to live in places filled with yet.
Ted：The power of Yet笔记
课程不及格
get a failing grade
什么都没学到
I‘m nowhere
You’re on a learning curve, it gives you a path into the future.
转折点 a real turning point
cope with challenge and difficulty
I like challenge, i was hoping this would be informative. 希望有所收获
只顾眼前成败 they were gripped in the tyranny of now
积极投入 engage with it / engage deeply
大脑高速运作 Their brain is on fire with yet
create kids who are hardy and resilient 韧性
遇见问题 hit the problem
push out of their comfort zone
成绩下滑 decline grade
go from bottom to the top
affluent 富饶
付诸实践 put it into practice
put more effort 努力
觉得笨 feel dumb
