Encouraging a growth mind-set in students

A great new article in Scientific American, The Secret to Raising Smart Kids, discusses human motivation and encouraging a "growth mind-set" in children and adolescents. Lots of good stuff in there:

This belief [that intelligence is innate] also makes them see challenges, mistakes and even the need to exert effort as threats to their ego rather than as opportunities to improve. And it causes them to lose confidence and motivation when the work is no longer easy for them.

There is clearly a link here to youth ministry and encouraging/equipping students to grow in their Christian faith. Some students are just better at being "students of Christianity" than others, which means that the onus is on youth workers for teaching our students to have a "growth mind-set" as the article says. Check this out:

In the growth mind-set classes, students read and discussed an article entitled “You Can Grow Your Brain.” They were taught that the brain is like a muscle that gets stronger with use and that learning prompts neurons in the brain to grow new connections. From such instruction, many students began to see themselves as agents of their own brain development. Students who had been disruptive or bored sat still and took note. One particularly unruly boy looked up during the discussion and said, “You mean I don’t have to be dumb?”

Now, some of you might be saying, "We [youth pastors] should just be loving on kids and teaching them that Jesus loves them." First of all, please don't ever use any form of the phrase "love on" ever again. Second, teaching kids that Jesus loves them approaches pointlessness if they have no grasp of context. Context within the biblical canon (How does Jesus' teaching relate to and interact with the Old Testament?), context within history (What was the first century C.E. like, and how did it influence Jesus' ministry?), and so on.

Obviously there's much more that can be taught, but I'm just making a point that youth ministry involves quite a bit of straight-up teaching. This has become a stark reality to me in the few short months I have been teaching Lutheran confirmation. It follows, then, that articles like the one mentioned above should make us think critically about youth ministry.

For more on adolescent brain science, be sure check out The Primal Teen.

Tagged as: confirmation, neuroscience, psychological development, psychology, science, scientific american, student ministry, Youth Ministry