My Thoughts About Growth Mindset

I have absolutely no doubt in the power of Growth Mindset.  When I think about my growth as a learner, I didn't quite understand what exactly happened in my life where I became obsessed with learning, but now that I think about it Growth Mindset was certainly involved!!

I think everything changed partly because I was focused on learning more than I was at doing well.  I wanted to do well, but my genuine interest in learning was what was truly satisfying!  It feels good to get good grades, but it feels even better to realize you have learned a difficult concept and that is what got you that good grade.

Sadly, the education system in America is incredibly lacking.  While I am in no position to introduce ways to fix our problems, I can certainly agree that it is negatively impacting students when we are so focused on letter grades.  A person's GPA does not accurately express the level of one's abilities or intelligence.  In fact, the way I usually explain it is grades represent how smart someone is, but intelligence is only reliably found through a conversation with an individual.  Intelligence is much more valuable than knowing a bunch of ideas.  Intelligence is in my own words the ability to use prior knowledge to make accurate predictions for other more foreign concepts.  It is the ability to think critically.  More often than not, many answers to many questions in science and out of it can be reached through means of critical thinking.

Wilson's Flipped Lab Pyramid
Found in Wilson's Flipped Lab Blogspot

Often my biggest challenge in school is wanting to learn things my way.  My way usually works, but it can hurt my grade when professors and teachers want me to learn it their way.  And sometimes their way is more convenient or useful, so I really should do better at adapting to different ways of thinking about problems.

I am incredibly excited for my microbiology class this semester!  I have never had the chance to learn about microbiology.  The only other time I was taught it was freshman year of high school and that was back when I didn't enjoy learning.  So it will be really interesting to learn about this gigantic field of study that I have never gotten around to learning about.

My goal this semester is to get a 4.0, finish my experiments and get at least half way through my research paper for my Asphalt Binder research, and work on my personal mindset and physical health to live a more happy and less stressful lifestyle.