1. Year 12 Study Skills Morning Wednesday , 29 September 2010
Take your brain
for a test drive!
Year 12 Study Skills Morning
Wednesday , 29 September 2010

2. Strictly Come Dancing 2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-aYnpSiYYs
Clips = 3.5 minutes

3. What makes a good dancer?

4. Attribution theory
The fundamental attribution error: the tendency to understand and explain behaviour in terms of internal dispositions such as personality traits, abilities, motives, etc. as opposed to external situational factors.
i.e. good dancers have great rhythm, passion, creativity, physicality, musicality; measurable traits which are fixed and unchanging
1 minute

5. Attribution theory and academic ability/intelligence
Psychologist, Professor Carol Dweck says students’ beliefs about the origins of intelligence have a profound influence on
their motivation to learn
progress at transition points in their studies
their future academic performances
Complete Dweck’s Questionnaire!
2 minutes: students to complete questionnaire and see whether they are more towards fixed intelligence or untapped ability

6. Fixed mindset or growth mindset
She divides students into two types:
Fixed IQ theorists
ability is fixed probably at birth
little if anything you can do to improve it.
ability comes from talent rather than gradual development of skills
“It's all in the genes”
Either you can do it with little effort, or you will never be able to do it
In the case of difficulty you might as well give up!
Intelligence; you get what you are given!
Untapped Potential theorists
ability and success are due to learning
learning requires time and effort.
In the case of difficulty one must try harder, try another approach, seek help etc.
Intelligence is expandable; like a piece of elastic it can stretched and extended
The brain is like a muscle that develops and grows with use!
1 minute exposition and 4 minutes Carol Dweck video clip

7. The results About 15% of students are in the middle
The rest are equally divided between the two theories
There is no correlation between success at school and the theory the student holds
Differences in performance only show when the student is challenged or is facing difficulty, for example when a student moves from school to sixth form.
At transition times, the ‘Untapped Potential Theorists' do very much better
1 minute

8. Encouraging ‘Untapped Potential’ thinking
The fixed IQ theorists:
don’t see the worth in altering their study habits
The untapped potential theorists:
see change as a challenge, something to be conquered through application and effort.
Hattie, Biggs and Purdie:
Study Skills programmes only work if students are taught about the growth mind set focus and encouraged to adopt this way of thinking
The relationship between mind set (fixed or growth) is immensely influential!
Hopefully I can enhance your belief in the potency of untapped potential thinking (growth mind set)
The effect sizes found by Hattie et al showed that work on attribution theory can improve a student's performance by between 2-3 grades!
1minute

9. We all start out with some fairly similar kit!
a 3lb brain: 3 cans of beans?
about 100 billion neurons; same number of stars in our galaxy?
blood flow through brain per minute: ml; about 3 cans of coke?
slowest speed at which information travels between neurons is 260 mph; top speed of the Bugatti EB 16.4 Veyron
more electrical impulses generated in one day by a single human brain than by all the telephones in the world.
Estimated that we think around 70,000 thoughts per day
We all have the potential to use this
incredible kit in incredible ways!
1 minute

10. Neuroplasticity; our changing brains!
4 minutes

11. Ability in a subject can and does change, grow and develop!
Effort is required for learning; effort ‘grows’ connections
If the brain is like a muscle which strengthens with exercise; it needs a challenging and regular ‘work out‘
Try different techniques to create connections;
try to find similarities between pairs of concepts;
relate new learning to things you know already;
create a picture or image of the new learning;
make a silly rhyme; set the new theory to a familiar tune
Do it, see it, hear it, say it!
Don't assume that something is difficult because you are clever enough compared with others!
Don’t stop trying because the work is tough, try harder!
1 minute

12. Turning a pathway into a motorway!
To have fun with your Bugatti brain you need a nice straight, relatively wide road!
To strengthen neural pathways
make it more likely that these paths will be trodden again in the future
we need to revisit these tracks regularly
coming at them from different angles
different directions; making further connections between varying layers of stored information
How? Consolidate your work in different ways, as regularly as time allows!
1 minute

13. Take your brain for a test-drive!
untapped potential thinkers aren’t afraid to experiments and make mistakes!
unlike a Bugatti, using it can’t break it!
10 seocnds

14. Now you are in the right frame of mind!
Like Ricky, get into character:
start thinking and acting like an ‘untapped potential thinker!’
practice your skills relentlessly but don’t spend time on things you can already do
challenge yourself to do something more complex
Surround yourself with people who will support your new way of dancing/studying
1 minute

15. Now you are in the right frame of mind!
Like Natalie....
Don’t be afraid to look like your enjoying yourself!
Take criticism on the chin and work with it not against it!
Believe that people like you and want you to succeed!
Like yourself and know you can succeed!
1 minute

16. Thank you for listening!
Good luck with your studies
And as Bruce and Tess would say,
“keeeeep” studying!