Lesson powerpoint here
- Play short video of 4 year old Mimi playing the piano:
- Ask students to discuss whether her talent is nature or nurture. Possibly separate the class into those who think it’s nature and those who think it’s nurture and ask them together to defend their position.
- Ask students to discuss their ideas of intelligence and talent. Do they think that talent/intelligence is genetic or learned or a bit of both? Why do they think that?
- Ask students to tell each other Aesop’s fable of the tortoise and the hare.
- Ask them to do a character analysis of the tortoise and of the hare. Which words best describe them? What do their actions tell us about their characters?
- In a school setting, who are the tortoises and who are the hares? (Naming no names). How do they behave?
- Look at the diagram of the mindsets and talk through the consequences for learning of being in either the fixed or the growth mindsets.
- Does this theory help to explain the character of the tortoise or the hare? Which of them is in the growth mindset and which in the fixed mindset?
- Ask students to read the information about the theory of mindsets.
- Play Colin Jackson clip: ask students to pay particular attention to his reaction to finding out whether or not he has the sprint gene. What did they think about that? How can the theory of mindsets explain his reactions?
- Play Dweck video.
- Discuss: what do students think about this?
Prep: Try to get into the growth mindset about something: a subject or an activity. If you are already in the growth mindset, write about how it helps you.