Stuck in a Rut

I am often frustrated by my driveway. Our house sits on a hill and the gravel driveway sloping down to the road is filled with ruts. Whenever it rains, streams of water flow down the ruts making them even deeper. I often think about how my thoughts are like my driveway and how ideas tend to flow down the pattern of least resistance. I realize my thoughts get stuck in the rut. It is not so bad when that rut is useful – like my insistence on finding the positive in everything.  It is thoughts that I have like “I will never get past learning the basic chords in a guitar because I’m just not musically inclined” that create the problem.

In some ways, our students are “stuck in a rut” and their mindsets make it hard for them to succeed. Doyle and Zakrajsek identified five things that determine a student’s success. Look closely at the chart below and you will notice that most have to do with mindset.

Mindset Matters

Mindset is the lens through which learners view themselves and their abilities. It affects their willingness to engage in learning tasks, the effort they are willing to expend when facing challenges, and their emotional responses to academic situations. In the higher education setting, this concept is crucial because a student’s mindset about learning can limit or expand their potential for growth and achievement. 

Mindset matters because some of our students are stuck in a mental rut of thinking that their abilities are fixed. In this chapter, you will learn about growth and fixed mindsets and discover strategies to help your students embrace a growth mindset. By understanding these concepts, you can guide your students toward a more adaptive and successful approach to learning.

Psychologist Carol Dweck researches mindset and notes two distinct mindset patterns– fixed mindset and growth mindset. Let’s explore what they are, why they matter, and how we can impact the mindset of the students we coach.

Characteristics of students with a fixed mindset

Fixed Mindset: Students with a fixed mindset believe their abilities are innate and unchangeable.

Students with a fixed mindset believe they are either born with abilities or not.

• • If talent is fixed, why bother improving?
  • Smart students shouldn’t need to work hard.
  • The need for effort is proof of a lack of intelligence.
  • “I’m just not good at math.”

Students with a fixed mindset work to protect their self-esteem.

• • Choose easier tasks and put in less effort.
  • Gravitate toward activities they’re already good at.

Students with a fixed mindset encounter challenges as defeat.

• • View failure as permanent and give up easily when facing challenges.
  • Tend to quit at the first signs of difficulty.
  • Perceive feedback as a personal attack.

Characteristics of students with a growth mindset

Growth Mindset: Students with a growth mindset believe talents and abilities can be developed through effort, learning, and persistence.

Students with a growth mindset believe intelligence grows with new knowledge and skills.

• • Focus on learning over performing.
  • See effort as a path to mastery.
  • Find inspiration in others’ success.

Students with a growth mindset gain self-esteem when working through challenges.

• • View challenges as opportunities for growth.
  • Embrace errors as part of the learning process.
  • Focus on progress rather than fixed measures of ability.

Students with a growth mindset encounter challenges as opportunities.

• • • Understand that hard work may be required.
    • See failure as a signal to work harder or change strategies.
    • View obstacles as challenges to overcome.
    • Demonstrate resilience and willingness to accept constructive feedback.
    • Persist in the face of setbacks.

Practice may not always make perfect but it can make progress.

Watch this short video for an overview of the topic.

Growth Mindset vs Fixed Mindset by John Spencer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1CHPnZfFmU&t=123s

Believing you can make it and then putting in the work is critical.

The New Science of Learning

Mindset Interventions Work

The good news is that studies have demonstrated that even a one-hour session introducing the idea that “the brain is like a muscle that grows stronger and smarter through rigorous learning experiences” leads to improved student grades.  In another study, at-risk and underrepresented students who had mindset training showed measurable improvements in their GPAs and their persistence after completing growth mindset training.

In short, mindset interventions work.

Mindset influences not only the task at hand but also a student’s sense of self. Students with a fixed mindset often overfocus on grades and view errors as threats to identity. This can trigger negative emotional reactions during learning which further hinders the learning process. It can be very stressful to think that you just don’t have what it takes. 

When we help students adopt a growth mindset, it not only enhances academic performance but also provides emotional relief.

How Can Coaches Help?

First Do a Self-Check

“I’m not a math person; I’m a word nerd.” This phrase comes out of my mouth more than I want to admit. When I say, “I’m not a number person,” I am demonstrating a closed mindset– the very thing I tell students not to do. Check your mindset mishaps before talking to others about theirs. In my early coaching career, I caught myself trying to empathize with students and gain rapport by saying things like, “I understand; I suck at math too.” Not only did it not make my students feel better, but it was me reinforcing a fixed mindset. Model growth mindset language by using phrases that reinforce the idea of growth and learning.

Teach Students That Their Intelligence Can Grow

In the New Science of Learning the authors write, “One thing about human intelligence is certain: It is malleable, meaning intelligence is changed through exposure to new information or even by looking at what you already know in a new way. There is no limit to what you can learn, and contrary to what some may think, nobody’s brain has ever been shown to be ‘filled.'”

It is our job as coaches to help students understand that they can impact their brain development. The brain is like a muscle that gets stronger with use. The more it encounters, the more the neurons in the brain grow and make new connections. Strengthening intellectual skills is hard work, but it can be done. A psychologist from the University of Copenhagen found that students coached to understand that intelligence can be developed saw their GPAs go up.

Talk About Effort and Progress

When you talk to your students, ask more about the process than the performance. Instead of asking, “How is that chemistry grade?” ask, “What steps have you been taking to learn the material?” Praise effort, strategies, and progress rather than innate ability. Phrases like, “I’m impressed by how you approached this problem step-by-step” and “Your hard work is paying off,” are examples of praising the process.

Other ways to ask about the performance of progress would be to ask these questions:

1. 1. Don’t worry if you don’t understand something right away. Focus on your next steps. What should they be?
   2. The study plan you made helped you out a lot. How can you take that lesson into your other classes?
   3. What can you learn from this experience?
   4. It looks like you are making progress in chemistry but haven’t mastered it yet, what do you think you need to do to make a little more progress?
   5. What strategy worked well for you here? How might you apply it to other challenges?

Ask Them to Talk About Mindset

We do most of our deep learning when we use what we learned. In other words, we should not just talk to our students about mindset, but we should have them interact with the information. One way to do this is to have them talk about mindset–have them think about their thinking. This is supported by studies that reported a positive impact when students either summarized their growth mindset in their own words or gave advice to a hypothetical student.

Help Them Learn to Embrace “Yet”

In the now famous Ted talk, Carol Dweck says, “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’m nothing, I’m nowhere. But if you get the grade “Not Yet”, you understand that you’re on a learning curve. It gives you a path into the future.” She goes on to say that this was the starting point for her research on growth mindset.

We can help our students embrace the power of yet. When they say, “I’m not good at speech,” encourage them to add “yet” and say, “I’m not good at speech yet.” Simply adding yet to the end means that they may not have mastered it, but they are giving their brain permission to keep trying.

Watch “The Power of Yet” by Carol S Dweck for a full overview of mindset.

Help Them Reframe Challenges as Opportunities for Growth: Normalize Struggle

Help your students understand that struggle is a natural part of learning. “It’s normal to find this challenging. Your brain is growing as you work through it.” When students visit you, they see someone who has achieved success. Let them know that everyone begins somewhere. Tell them about a time you struggled. Tell them about the first time you failed a test and how you bounced back. Tell them about when you had to work hard to pass a class. If you don’t have your own struggle story, tell someone else’s story. Helping students see process over perfection is one way we help them learn to have a growth mindset.

When telling your struggle story, remember that our story is to get them started thinking about this, and not to take over. Make sure you keep the focus on them. Give students a chance to focus on a time they worked hard and persevered. By giving them space to reflect on past times when perseverance paid off, you are helping them work out their resilience muscle which gives them the strength to try it again.

Mindset Matters

In conclusion, mindset matters. The mindsets that students bring with them to college can influence how willing they are to try and how they respond to setbacks. By coaching them to have a growth mindset and teaching them the power of “yet,” we provide them with lifelong tools for success.

Additional Resources

Here are a few videos that may be helpful for you personally on this topic and may be helpful to share with students.

“A Quick Way to Find Your Why” by Simon Sinek

“Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance” by Angela Duckworth

“Why Effort Matters More Than Talent” by Angela Duckworth

How to Shift Your Mindset by InnerDrive Online Academy

References

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Doyle, T., & Zakrajsek, T. (2019). The new science of learning (2nd ed.). Stylus.

Duckworth, A. Why Effort Matters More Than Talent, Angela Duckworth. YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAK5wMzRXAI

Duckworth, A. (2016). Grit: The power of passion and perseverance. Scribner.

Duckworth, A. (2016). Grit: The power of passion and perseverance. Ted Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H14bBuluwB8

Dweck, C. S., & Leggett, E. L. (1988). A social-cognitive approach to motivation and personality. Psychological Review, 95(2), 256-273. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.95.2.256

Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random House.

Dweck, C. S. (2014, November 16). The power of yet [Video]. TED Conferences. https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_yet

Johnson, R. (2023, May 5). New survey finds most college grads would change majors. Best Colleges. https://www.bestcolleges.com/news/college-grads-change-majors/

McGuire, S.N. (2018). Teach yourself how to learn. Stylus.

Mogensen, J. (2012). Cognitive recovery and rehabilitation after brain injury: Challenges and support. In A. Agrawal (Ed.), Brain injury – Functional aspects, rehabilitation and prevention (pp. 121-150). InTech.

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). (2017). Percentage of 2011–12 First Time Postsecondary Students Who Had Ever Declared a Major in an Associate’s or Bachelor’s Degree Program Within 3 Years of Enrollment, by Type of Degree Program and Control of First Institution: 2014. Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC. https://nces.ed.gov/datalab/tableslibrary/viewtable.aspx?tableid=11764.

Nottingham, J.A. and Larsson, B. ( 2018) Challenging mindset: Why a growth mindset makes a difference in learning–and what to do when it doesn’t. Corwin Press.

Paunesku, D., Walton, G. M., Romero, C., Smith, E. N., Yeager, D. S., & Dweck, C. S. (2015). Mind-Set Interventions Are a Scalable Treatment for Academic Underachievement. Psychological Science, 26(6), 784-793. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797615571017

Silver B. R. (2023). Major transitions: how college students interpret the process of changing fields of study. Higher education, 1–16. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-023-01050-8

US Department of Education (2017). Beginning College Students Who Change Their Majors Within 3 Years of Enrollment. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2018/2018434.pdf

Yang, M.H. (2015)  Emotions, Learning, and the Brain: Exploring the Educational Implications of Affective Neuroscience Norton

Yeager, D.S., Hanselman, P., Walton, G.M. et al. A national experiment reveals where a growth mindset improves achievement. Nature 573, 364–369 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1466-y

AI acknowledgment: This work was written by the author in its entirety. Claude AI was then used to refine some of the wording. Claude AI and Grammarly were used to proofread the chapter and check the reference page.

** Quote altered in tense to make it easy to read in a bulleted list.