Effective effort Persistence is continuation of effort and striving in the face of difficulty, opposition, or failure: it is a key characteristic of successful people across professional and academic disciplines. Persistence is evidenced by willingness to continue to try in the face of challenge. For students, this persistence can be a driving force to help them achieve their academic, as well as personal goals. The idea of persistence in the face of adversity is often described as an outcome of high motivation. For example, students with a high sense of self-efficacy are shown to persist longer through academic difficulty. Educators and parents play a significant role in helping students develop persistence and apply effective effort proven strategies paired with attitudes and beliefs that enable students to see the greatest benefit. They can reinforce a view of intelligence as malleable, or changeable, provide frequent and specific feedback to students on their academic progress, and encourage students to reflect on their own experiences with overcoming challenges and succeeding. Educators can foster in students specific skills that are associated with effective effort, such as time management, organizational strategies, and goal setting. When students have a plan for how to deal with challenging academic situations that includes metacognitive strategies, or strategies for examining their own thinking, they are better equipped to continue to try when they struggle. And classroom practice influences students effort as well. Students are more likely to persist in productive ways when teachers allow time for reflection and discussion; when assignments and tests include opportunities for Content copyright 2012 Charles A. Dana Center, The University of Texas at Austin Page 1 of 2
Effective effort error analysis; when teachers use questioning to uncover confusion as opposed to giving an answer right away; when teachers assign tasks that have clear outcomes and rubrics so students can self-assess; when teachers praise effort as opposed to outcomes; when teachers foster a community of learners in their classrooms; when they push students to honestly evaluate their struggles and their attributions for success and failure. A related concept that refers to more long-term and sustained persistence is academic resilience academic achievement despite a challenging or threatening circumstance in the educational process. Researchers have specifically examined the challenges, setbacks, and pressures associated with academics and argue for greater understanding of academic adversities and the most effective ways to deal with them. Content copyright 2012 Charles A. Dana Center, The University of Texas at Austin Page 2 of 2
Malleability of intelligence Malleability of intelligence refers to beliefs about the nature and particularly the flexibility of intelligence. While intelligence has been much studied within the fields of biology, genetics, psychology, and the learning sciences, there is no universally accepted definition of what exactly constitutes intelligence. But we now know much more about what shapes intelligence. We know that people regard intelligence either as being fixed something that is unchangeable and characteristic or being malleable something that can be changed. How people view the malleability of intelligence matters a great deal in education. Students who believe intelligence is fixed typically think that needing to expend effort to learn indicates low intelligence. When students with a fixed view of intelligence encounter a concept that they do not immediately and effortlessly understand, they typically believe that they are incapable of mastering it and thus expend less effort to learn. Consider, for a moment, the effect of a belief in fixed intelligence on educators. If intelligence is fixed, it is impractical and unproductive to keep trying to educate students when they struggle. Teachers who are unaware of the advances in neuroscience regarding malleability of intelligence often believe students intelligence is fixed, and thus they view struggle as failure instead of a critical part of learning. Research shows that students can learn more with persistent effort from those who educate them and indeed from the sheer conviction of adults that their capabilities can grow. When students are taught about the malleability of intelligence, they can come to see intelligence as increasing with effective effort and hard work. Students who believe their intelligence can increase typically have more positive attitudes, greater enjoyment of academic tasks, and stronger learning goals. Consider these characterizations of fixed and growth mindsets from Carol Dweck, a Stanford University professor who has conducted 30 years of research into self-beliefs and mindsets: In the fixed mindset, people believe that their talents and abilities are fixed traits. They have a certain amount and that s that; nothing can be done to change it. Many years of research have now shown that when people adopt the fixed mindset, it can limit their success. They become over-concerned with Page 1 of 2
Malleability of intelligence proving their talents and abilities, hiding deficiencies, and reacting defensively to mistakes or setbacks-because deficiencies and mistakes imply a (permanent) lack of talent or ability. People in this mindset will actually pass up important opportunities to learn and grow if there is a risk of unmasking weaknesses. In the growth mindset, people believe that their talents and abilities can be developed through passion, education, and persistence. For them, it s not about looking smart or grooming their image. It s about a commitment to learning taking informed risks and learning from the results, surrounding yourself with people who will challenge you to grow, looking frankly at your deficiencies and seeking to remedy them. Most great business leaders have had this mindset, because building and maintaining excellent organizations in the face of constant change requires it. Page 2 of 2
Self-efficacy Use with Exploring Key influences on learning achievement Self-efficacy is the belief in one s capabilities, or the degree of confidence that people have in their ability to succeed at a task that matters to them. These beliefs play a critical role in determining the choices people make, their degree of anxiety while performing tasks, their level of persistence and effort in the face of challenge, and their motivation to complete a task. Psychologist Albert Bandura, a pioneering researcher in self-efficacy and the role of environmental influences in shaping the concept of self, found that we develop selfefficacy beliefs in four critical ways. For students, these powerful sources of information significantly affect the way they feel about their potential in academic settings: When students have experienced academic success, they are more likely to believe they can succeed again in the future. These are known as mastery experiences. Students can learn from others who are succeeding at a challenging task, and increase their own self-efficacy beliefs in the process. These are known as vicarious experiences. Students beliefs are influenced by the feedback they get from peers and teachers. This process is referred to as social influence or persuasion. Students respond to their thoughts, feelings, and physiological states when they work on a task, and their beliefs are affected by these thoughts, feelings, and conditions. Research has shown that self-efficacy is a strong predictor of academic achievement whatever the learner s area of interest or age. Moreover, students with a higher sense of self-efficacy monitor their progress more frequently, seek help more often, and engage in strategies to regulate their own efforts. Students self-beliefs and their motivation in academic settings are closely connected. Students can be motivated from both internal and external sources. Intrinsic motivation refers to internal drive that causes an activity or a task to be associated with the experience of personal pleasure or interest. When people are intrinsically Page 1 of 2
Self-efficacy Use with Exploring Key influences on learning achievement motivated, they have a genuine desire for the activity itself and enjoy it or find it fun. Research makes clear that, when students are intrinsically motivated to learn or engage in academic tasks, they are more likely to persist through struggle, continually evaluate their problem-solving strategies, take intellectual risks, and believe they can succeed. Students are more likely to be intrinsically motivated when they associate their achievement with factors they can control, such as their level of effort. And, intrinsic motivation is more likely to flourish when students have choice and control over their learning goals and strategies for accomplishing them. Extrinsic motivation refers to external drives that influence the performance of an activity in essence, driving our efforts by factors outside of ourselves, such as achieving a reward or preventing punishment. Extrinsic motivators provide pressure to either obtain something or avoid harmful feedback. Extrinsically motivated students are more likely to hold performance goals that are focused on wanting to look competent to others or on avoiding failure. Students with extrinsically motivated goals have been found to be less likely to seek help and persist in the face of challenge. For many academic tasks, both extrinsic and intrinsic motivators interact. For instance, a student may enjoy and find pleasure in seeking solutions to challenging problems but also want a good grade on those problems. This supports the notion that parents and educators should look for ways to tap into students intrinsic motivation around a task, such as their academic and long-term goals, while still offering external motivators. Page 2 of 2
Culture of learning The culture of learning has a profound impact on students academic behaviors. All educators have experienced the phenomenon of a classroom charged with energy and enthusiasm for learning. But it can be challenging to replicate that experience every day to create an environment that increases the likelihood that all students will engage and learn. Current research indicates that the culture of learning is shaped by many factors, including the attitudes and beliefs of the students and educators, the classroom interactions, the available resources, and the instructional practices employed by the teacher. The culture of learning is positively affected when educators and students develop a true community of learners. A community of learners can be defined as a group of people who share values and beliefs and who actively engage in learning from one another learners from teachers, teachers from learners, and learners from learners. They thus create a learning-centered environment in which students and educators are actively and intentionally constructing knowledge together. Learning communities are connected, cooperative, and supportive. Peers are interdependent in that they have joint responsibility for learning and share resources and points of view, while sustaining a mutually respectful and cohesive environment. A positive learning community supports diverse student capabilities by enabling all members to participate at their level of expertise and comfort and, specifically, is characterized by feelings of safety among participants, as well as willingness to ask questions and make mistakes. This supported engagement motivates students so that they are more willing to persist when they are challenged or confused. Environments that foster beliefs of competence through effort can create a secure sense of belonging; one s interest, commitment, and progress matter more than one s perceived ability (Inzlicht & Good, 2006). Thus, creating a safe community in which peers and teachers are viewed as allies is essential for greater engagement and academic achievement. Page 1 of 2
Culture of learning School systems interested in building learning communities, within classrooms and school wide, can attend to these recommendations from the research literature: Encourage, expect, and require authentic collegiality among the adults in the system Model, encourage, and expect student participation and active engagement Set high expectations for all students while providing appropriate social and academic supports Promote a sense of belonging among students by encouraging and recognizing diverse expressions of competence and expertise Page 2 of 2