NAME: APURBO MITRA ROLL NO.

: 2313025009 DIVISION: B

PRESCHOOLERS GROW THEIR BRAIN. SHIFTING MINDSETS FOR

GREATER RESILIENCY AND BETTER PROBLEM SOLVING.

Challenges, mistakes, and problems are inherent in learning activities and social interactions.
Building resilience involves fostering children's sense of agency and self-efficacy, which helps
them develop confidence in their ideas, understanding of challenges, and how to handle them.
Teachers use their words as powerful tools for developing these skills, noting and commenting
on effort rather than ability.

Developing a "growth mindset" allows for possibilities and promotes progress and problem-
solving, improving children's skills for effectively solving problems every day and in more
challenging scenarios. When children repeatedly come to teachers for help or become frustrated
in their efforts, these opportunities are for building skills in problem-solving approaches and
shifting children's perceptions of themselves as problem solvers.

To promote an attitude of excitement and confidence in the face of challenges and difficulties,
teachers can use words that help them see the world as a place where mistakes are opportunities
to learn and bounce back from defeat. Making exerting effort feel like a normal part of problem-
solving and facing challenges is essential. The work done with 4- and 5-year-olds shows the
value of intentionally framing challenges, mistakes, and problems, helping young children
develop a more positive attitude about challenges and being more open to potential outcomes of
difficult situations.

Carol Dweck, a professor at Stanford University, coined the terms fixed mindset and growth
mindset in her book Mindset (2006). Growth mindsets help people realize that through effort
they can grow, learn, and effectively respond to their world. Fixed mindsets tend to avoid
challenges and fear failure and making mistakes, leading to a belief that ability is fixed and that
effort is for people who can't perform. Martin Seligman views these concepts through the lenses
of optimism/pessimism and attribution theory, which suggest that people's perceptions about
themselves influence how, when, and if they tackle problems.