GRIT and Growth Mindset - A Potent Combination

ADvTECH Group • June 16, 2021

She conducted research and concluded that academic achievement was essential but not sufficient for success. Here is a quick experiment you can use to determine if your pre-schooler has GRIT. The marshmallow test is famous in psychology. You give your little one a marshmallow, and you tell them that you are leaving now but will be back shortly. They can eat the marshmallow if they want to, but you will give them a second one when you get back if they do not. If your child eats the sweet before you return, you have a lot of work to do.

To cut a long story short, GRIT measures the characteristics that identify as being present in students who do not drop out. You can conduct a quick check on your grit scale, but do not take it too seriously because it is a lot more complex than a simple test can show.

GRIT is all about self-control and deferred gratification (waiting longer for the reward). If you combine that with a growth mindset, you end up with a potent combination. Dr Carol Dweck, in her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, writes:

“What are the consequences of thinking that your intelligence or personality is something you can develop, as opposed to something that is a fixed, deep-seated trait? Your view of yourself can determine everything. If you believe that your qualities are unchangeable — the fixed mindset — you will want to prove yourself correct over and over rather than learning from your mistakes.” (Carol Dweck: A Summary of The Two Mindsets, 2021).

In a homeschool context, the recipe for success includes parents who encourage both of these ideas in their children. It is easy to lose sight that a homeschooler often displays character traits that would disadvantage them in a brick and mortar school. These include a desire to pursue their passions at their own pace. If they do not match that desire with the GRIT and a growth mindset, they can often go down paths that lead to lots of learning but no education.

Education is a structured, paced, and deliberate approach to being able to know and be able to do the things you need to succeed in any task you set yourself or are required to do.

At Evolve Online, we set out to provide the platform and scaffolding children need to advance their education, but they need the right conditions at home to achieve this. We built our learning method on the foundation of a growth mindset approach. For Evolve Online Activators, a child never fails to learn something – they just have not mastered it yet.

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