Week 7: Growth Mindset

This semester I have actually discussed the growth mindset in a couple of my classes like my biology capstone and at my house. I remember the longest conversation I had about the growth mindset was with my friend Damiana at around midnight. We were talking about all of the problems found within the inner city public school system. I then talked to her about how useful it would be if the education system taught with a growth mindset and consistently challenged students. I told my friend a little about what the growth mindset entailed and she instantly agreed with me. We both believe that the inner city schools we came from did not promote a system of challenge, but instead allowed students to do no work and continue throughout high school until they graduated. 

(All we need is coffee and the growth mindset)

Week 6: My Other Classes Growth Mindset

Here is a list of the challenges I face in my courses so far:
Neurobiology: Learning how to read synaptic responses of membranes and determine how ion channels affects ion concentrations.

(Neurobiology has Physics in it)

Cell Biology: I have to learn the importance of the ten steps of glycolysis and be able to write them in a free response.
Physics 1 & 2 Labs: I have to learn how to use Microsoft excel to make graphs. 

(Have I mentioned I hate Physics?)

Spanish Literature: I have to think of literature concepts and explain them in Spanish. 
Biology Capstone: I have to think of an innovative way that biology could save the world.
Chemistry of Beer: I just need to learn different styles of beers. 

(Just studying for tests next week)

Honestly, all of my science classes intertwine very heavily and anything that I learn in one class will undoubtedly be used in another of my classes. For example, we learned about fermentation in my cell biology course today and of course this is essential in my chemistry of beer class. As far as my Spanish literature class, I don't see any way that this can be applied to any of my science courses, but it could be useful for this class!

(Just doing Mythology)

Week 5: Writing Challenge Growth Mindset

This week I challenged myself to write a story that did not involve any mythical creatures. I also chose to not follow the story as closely as I have in other writings. I found it really challenging to write my story without any mythical beings playing a large role. This really challenged me to think outside of the box and use the backbone of the original story to create my own story. I can honestly say that it challenged me, but I feel that I do better writings when I focus on mythical beings. Probably because I am fascinated by them so much!

(Photo as I try to think of how to write my story)

Growth Mindset: Stories About Growth

For this growth mindset challenge I am focusing on the story of Tortoise Bowl-On-The-Back and the Fox.

This story involves a tortoise that is working on his harvest for the next year and a fox that periodically visits while he is working and says may god bless you. Then when the crop is ready to be harvested and eaten the fox comes and asks for his part of the crop. The tortoise doesn't understand why the fox believes he is entitled to a part of the crop and the fox then says that they should race for all of the crop. The tortoise accepts the challenge.

I believe that the growth mindset can be found in the next part of the story, because even though the tortoise faces an impossible challenge he does not just give up. He instead thinks outside of the box and asks his brother to wait at the finish and trick the fox into thinking he lost. I believe that this is a great representation of what you must do when using the growth mindset if you are faced by a seemingly impossible obstacle.

Week 3: Growth Mindset Memes

For this challenge I attempted to make memes that portrayed the growth mindset. So here are some of those!

(Photo of my dog when she was a pup taken by myself)

(Photo taken by myself when stuck on a hunting trip)

(Photo found on memegenerator)

Week 2: Growth Mindset

Warning: Animal lovers may find the context of this blog post unappealing. 



The growth mindset challenge I completed is one that I continually push myself to accomplish when I travel. I always try to challenge myself to experience another culture as much as possible by trying different foods and learning different customs. What this challenge has helped me do is to become more open to trying new things and considering cultural differences without judgement.

I would have to say the most challenging thing that I have done while abroad took place in Peru. While there we heard of a traditional Peruvian delicacy known as Cuy, a.k.a. Guinea Pig. No one in our group wanted to challenge themselves and try something that is incredibly unique to Peru. The people serving the food were telling us that Guinea Pig was usually only served on birthdays and important holidays. I did not want to leave Peru wishing that I had pushed myself out of my comfort zone, so I took the leap and a friend joined me soon after.

(Eating Cuy in Cuzco, Peru)

 I couldn't believe that I ate something like this, but after having done it and talked with the people in Peru about their way of living I can say that I truly tried my best to immerse in the culture of Peru. I find it extremely hard to push myself out of my comfort zone both in the U.S. and out of it, but I always find the outcome extremely rewarding and unforgettable!

Growth Mindset

I had never heard of Carol Dweck or the growth mindset before viewing it for this assignment. However, I like the message portrayed by the growth mindset and I feel that it could help solve many of the issues we find in our educational system. I see myself as a student that is focused very heavily on the grades I receive in courses, because I feel pressured to do extremely well in order to be accepted into medical school. While listening to the videos I began to reflect upon the way that I learn at OU. I believe that my biggest challenge is tackling problems that I feel are difficult, because I feel that if I miss the problem that I am not at the same level as my peers. I am interested in finding out more about the growth mindset and I believe that the challenges will not only help me in this course, but will help me better myself as a student in all of my courses. I look forward to finding challenges that I want to tackle instead of avoid, and I think that these challenges will help me escape my comfort zone. My personal goals for this semester are mainly to make sure that I keep on top of all of my course load and follow through with obligations to different organizations. I feel that this mindset will be especially helpful as I tackle cell biology this semester. Everyone that I have talked to about this course only tells me how difficult the class is, and I believe that having a mindset in which I accept and welcome challenges will help me to be able to understand a greater amount of the material I will be taught. 

(From Cheezburger)