Growth Mindset and Multiple Intelligences

Growth Mindset is the belief that "failure" is a necessary part of learning and should not be seen negatively. While it might not take 10,000 hours to become an expert at a skill, it does take about 50 hours to become competent and definitely more than 1 try.

​Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences, while not supported by scientific studies, is included here because it highlights the need to use a diverse set of teaching practices. There is no 1 size fits all.
SHAPE AMERICA APPROPRIATE PRACTICES
  • ​1.1.2 The environment is supportive of all students and promotes developing a positive self-concept. Students are allowed to try, to fail, and to try again, free of criticism or harassment from the teacher or other students.
  • 1.5.2 All students are encouraged, supported and socialized toward successful achievement in all content taught in physical education (e.g., dance is for everyone).
  • 1.7.2 Teachers create a mastery-learning environment that encourages students to compete against previous personal performances or against a criterion score.
GROWTH MINDSET Overview
​Growth Mindset is the belief that abilities can be improved through effort and practice, and that mistakes should be seen as part of the process. In other words, a mastery orientation is preferred over ego orientation.
LEARNING NEW MOTOR SKILLS
Below are the stages of learning for psychomotor skills (similar to the Generic Levels of Skill Proficiency). How fast one progresses to the motor or autonomous stage depends on the amount of practice; the experience you have with similar skills; and the required skill related fitness components such as agility, balance, coordination, reaction time and speed. Pathway to Physical Literacy has a great resource with videos on the stages of learning for a variety of motor skills. ​
​Stages​ of Learning using Examples from Dance
​​1. Verbal-Cognitive Stage:​ You have to really think about each step to experience success. You may even be “talking” yourself through things. You may have difficulty staying with the beat of the music. Improvement in this stage is rapid.

​2. Motor Stage: You are able to perform the skill without thinking too hard. You can pay some attention to style and strategy. You may not be able to perform the skill perfectly, but you’ve got the basics down. You are able to stay with the beat of the music, but may have to concentrate to do so. Improvement in this stage is fairly slow.

​3. Autonomous Stage: You don’t have to think about how to do the skill at all. Your movements are automatic, and you can concentrate fully on style and strategy. Staying on beat is easy. Improvement in this stage is very slow.
Multiple Intelligences overview
​​Intelligence should not be defined by your IQ, SAT, or any other traditional measurement of intelligence. According to Gardner's Multiple Intelligence theory, intelligence occurs over a large spectrum that includes visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, linguistic, and logical-mathematical intelligences. ​

​​Each person has a unique combination of these, being stronger in some areas and weaker in others. As such, it is important for educators to deliver their lessons and assessments in variety of ways. This will help address the individual learning needs of your students and maximize achievement of the learning outcomes.
TRADITIONAL VS MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCEs
This table from Concept to Classroom ​describes the differences between "traditional intelligence" and "multiple intelligences."
MAXIMIZING LEARNING RETENTION
The following image illustrates the probability of retaining knowledge. The more modes of learning involved, the greater the chance that the desired knowledge will be retained. This is important when designing and presenting tasks to students. See this article for more information.