As outlined above there are many things you can do in an ECEC environment to help promote growth mindsets. Your challenge now is to implement one of those ideas or come up with your own plan for enabling growth mindsets. Make your project an inclusive and positive interaction that engages and supports children by creating an environment where growth mindsets are encouraged.

1. Activity title – Growth mindset lesson plan 

A lesson plan that includes group viewing of videos that explain growth mindset to students followed by a discussion among students on the issue of fixed vs. growth mindset. 

2. Activity description 

As part of the growth mindset lesson plan, each week, students will take part in an activity that includes numerous tasks, all designed to make students aware of the benefits of growth mindset (Dweck, 2006). The concept of fixed vs. growth mindset is difficult to explain to students with a simple description of the topic and requires a thorough visual and explanatory example (Judy, 2004). As part of this lesson plan, for every session of this activity, a short video explaining the purpose of growth mindset will be shown to the students as a way of making them familiar with limitations in having a fixed mindset. In the next step, all students will take part in a group discussion on the limitations and benefits of fixed vs. growth mindset. This process will help in understanding the views of students while also ensuring that students learn how their peers perceive growth mindset and its benefits (Hochanadel & Finamore, 2015). 

Lastly, students will take part in an interactive activity that asks them to reflect on their view and presence of a growth mindset activity in the classroom, by means of different approaches. Examples of such approaches include- making a chart that compares fixed mindset to growth mindset, writing a letter to a future student about fixed vs. growth mindset, and writing their reflection on their own mindset. 

Reflection 1 – My Professional Knowledge and Practice 

As a teacher, having any experience in the area of education seems an experience worth pursuing to me. Having the experience of taking part in this project was beneficial to me as it helped me become aware of the usefulness and effectiveness of tools like visual elements and educational props. Prior to working on this project, I did not anticipate that dealing with slightly mature students can also benefit from use of tools like videos and chart making exercises. In my opinion, most notable contributions of this project on my professional knowledge come in the form of my altered views on use of educational props and using creative methods to help the students engage with the topic.  

In theory, I expected that students will pay attention to a theoretically simple topic as the issue of fixed vs. growth mindset, but it was only after tackling this project that I realized knowing the behavior of students in practice makes a lot of difference. Based on this experience, I am now aware that when revealed an issue in their practice without immediate evidence, students are likely to feel insecure and protective to defend their fixed mindset as well. Ultimately, this became the prime reason for me to look for a passive activity to divert students towards growth mindset rather than an active approach that may offend students and may result in students acting protective for their existing mindset. In this regard, firstly introducing the issue with fixed mindset to students in a passive manner is more helpful to make students open towards improving their mindset.

(Some parts of the solution has been blurred due to privacy protection policy)