When I asked a group of college instructors how their students responded to setbacks in their courses, the responses were familiar: increasing disengagement and absence, avoidance of assignments, cheating, and even anger. In all these cases, students are seeing mistakes/errors as off-ramps taking them away from the successful completion of a course of study. One of the most meaningful things an instructor can do is to flip that narrative, helping students see their mistakes/errors as on-ramps to more powerful and lasting learning.
Tag: Growth mindset
Specifications Grading: A Before-and-After Tale in My Organic II Course
By replacing high-stakes exams with shorter, focused assessments emphasizing achievement instead of percentage grades, and allowing students to retake those assessments without penalty, I was confident I could reduce anxiety, promote a growth-mindset, and improve student engagement, all while keeping the bar high. So, I jumped in with both feet.
Creating an Achievement Mindset in Your Course
It’s about a month into the semester and my students have just received feedback on their first major exams. For many, their score is a positive affirmation of their hard work. For others, well . . . let the gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair commence! This has happened in every course during my twenty-year teaching career, and no matter how thoroughly I think I’m preparing students or coaching them with study suggestions, the first exam always becomes a major decision point for students.
Three Ways to Make the Most of Midterm
Isis Artze-Vega serves as college provost and vice president for academic affairs at Valencia College in central Florida, a Hispanic-serving institution long regarded as one of the nation’s best community colleges. She provides strategic leadership in curriculum, assessment, faculty development, online learning, career and workforce education, and partnerships for educational excellence. She is the lead author …
How to Teach the Process of Science to Promote a Growth Mindset
Erin Baumgartner is an award-winning teacher and biology education researcher. She earned her PhD in zoology at the University of Hawai’i-Manoa, where she remained for an additional six years as a science curriculum developer and researcher. In 2008, she joined Western Oregon University, where she coordinated introductory biology and taught courses in vertebrate evolution and …
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Teaching Neurodiversity: The Brain Is Diverse by Design
Adam K. Anderson is professor of human development and member of the graduate field of psychology at Cornell University. He is interested in the role of the emotions in all human faculties, considering psychological, physiological, and neural perspectives. In recognition of his work, Adam has been a Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience, received the APA …
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Responding to the ChatGPT Moment with Reflection, Emotion, and Process
Jessica Enoch is Professor of English and Director of the Academic Writing Program at the University of Maryland. The program—which she has directed for twelve years—has more than sixty instructors teaching more than 2,000 students each semester. In 2019, the Conference on College Composition and Communication recognized Jess's writing program with the Writing Program Certificate …
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Using a Previewing Strategy to Help Students Get the Most Out of Reading
Grace Ferris is an assistant professor of chemistry at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA, where she teaches General Chemistry I & II, Organic Chemistry I & II, Introductory Biochemistry, and Life Chemistry: Drugs in Our Lives. She earned her BA in chemistry with a minor in education from Mount Holyoke College in 2008 and her …
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From Spectators to Participants: Using Videos to Promote Engagement in the History Classroom
Malia McAndrew is an educator based in Cleveland, Ohio. She has taught introductory history material to a range of audiences, including middle and high school students, undergraduates, medical students, and incarcerated women. Malia believes that studying the American past can help us to think about the future we want to co-create together. Malia McAndrewImage Credit: …
The Power of Students Teaching Students
Geraldine Woods has taught every level of English from fifth grade through Advanced Placement at both St. Jean Baptiste High School and the Horace Mann School in New York City. She is the author of more than fifty books, including Independent Study That Works: Designing a Successful Program, and the creator of the Grammarian in the …