1 Embracing the Successes of Learning – and the Challenges and Failures
1 Embracing the Successes of Learning – and the Challenges and Failures
Learning Outcomes
- Assess your mindset toward learning.
- Identify ways to develop a growth mindset toward learning.
- Reflect on how to use failure as a motivator.
Learning in College
Many of your college reading and writing tasks will be challenging. In fact, college is supposed to be hard, and difficult learning tasks require time. You will be reading and writing about entirely new concepts. The vocabulary will be challenging at times. The combination of the newness of the materials and the unknown words can lead students to doubt that they can succeed, but with a certain mindset, they can work through the challenges.
Complete the reflection activity below to examine your prior experiences with challenging learning tasks.
Activity 1: Reflect on Your Learning Experiences
When you struggle with a learning task, such as a reading assignment with new concepts and challenging vocabulary, how do you react?
When you make a mistake or fail at a learning task, how do you react?
Write down your thoughts. Then, discuss them with a peer.
Learning isn’t only about successes. Some of the most impactful learning experiences occur amid challenges and failures, and students must embrace them as crucial parts of learning. The alternative is to turn away from challenges and failures and to give up. With a growth mindset, as described by Carol Dweck below, you can find ways to persist through the tough moments.
Carol Dweck and “Growth Mindset”
Carol Dweck, in her TED Talk “The Power of Believing You Can Improve,” discusses the importance of developing a growth mindset in order to be a resilient learner. Watch this TED Talk below. Then, complete the reflection activity to assess your mindset toward learning.
Carol Dweck’s TED Talk is shared under a Creative Commons license, CC BY–NC–ND 4.0.
Activity 2: Reflect on Your Mindset
Based on Carol Dweck’s TED Talk, identify the subjects in school that you tend to approach with a growth mindset and those that you approach with a fixed mindset.
Then, consider how you will work on developing a growth mindset in the areas where you take a fixed approach.
Write down your thoughts. Then, discuss them with a peer.
If a task is challenging you, it does not mean that you are incapable. It means that the task will take more time and persistence. It may require you to seek help or access resources. A growth mindset allows students to recognize the learning opportunities they have if they commit the time and push through the challenges.
Failure as Motivation
The article below by Stephen Langston builds on Carol Dweck’s concept of growth mindset. Langston discusses how failure can be used as motivation. After reading the article, complete the reflection activity. Click here to download and print a copy of the article.
How early failure can lead to success later in creative careers
Stephen Langston, University of the West of Scotland
November 8, 2022
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