Building Better Brains
A Guide to Promote a Growth Mindset in Students
Introduction
This guide is for designed for you TIP teachers implementing Building Better Brains,
a curriculum assembled to promote a growth mindset in students. People with a
growth mindset think of their intelligence as something that they can develop
through learning and study, rather than something that is fixed. Cultivating a growth
mindset can help increase a student’s sense of self-efficacy and motivation to learn.
This guide is based mostly on the work of Carol Dweck’s book, Mindset – The New
Psychology of Success, as well as the work of several other researchers in the field of
cognitive psychology, neuroscience and education.
Overview
Building Better Brains is a curriculum designed for you to use with students during
“bell work” over the course of six weeks. The hope is that you will devote between
two and three 5-7 minute lessons per week between February 9th and March 20th,
including pre- and post- self-assessments to gauge whether your students’ mindsets
have been changed in any way. Through PowerPoint presentations, short video clips
and excerpts of articles, students will learn about their brains and will be introduced
to the growth mindset.
The following common student challenges helped govern the format and structure
of this curriculum:
Challenge
How it is addressed
Students believe that they either “have it or they
don’t” with respect to their intelligence or certain
subjects in school because they don’t understand
how the brain can grow.
Students learn the basics of brain structure and
function, particularly what is required to
maintain readiness to learn and how attention
and concentration are supported.
Students have difficulty managing anxiety with
respect to taking tests or taking on challenging
tasks because they lack the necessary stressmanagement strategies.
Students learn that the brain functions by
sending chemical messages through a network of
nerve cells and that these cells are responsible
for thought.
Students have difficulty learning, especially in
certain subjects, because they don’t put in
enough effort.
Students discover how learning changes the
brain through the growth of connections in
neural networks with repeated use, the key to
growth mindset.
Students have difficulty persevering when they
encounter challenges because they lack a variety
of good learning strategies.
Students extend the concept of the malleable
brain, understand the processes of memory and
learn strategies to capitalize on the way the brain
works and learns to deepen their understanding
of the growth mindset.
Building Better Brains - A Guide to Promote a Growth Mindset in Students
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Curriculum Overview - High School
Lesson
Activity
Materials
1 – Can you grow
your intelligence?
Students read an article about the
basic functions of the brain and write
a reflection.
PowerPoint– Lesson 1
Article – You Can Grow Your
Intelligence
2 – How is your
brain like a
muscle?
Students watch a video on London cab
drivers and write a reflection.
PowerPoint– Lesson 2
Video – Why Do London Cab Drivers
Have Bigger Brains?
3 – How does your
brain grow?
Students watch a video on neurons
and write a reflection.
PowerPoint– Lesson 3
Video - Neurons
4 –How does your
brain function?
What does it
control?
Students read an informational text
and use a graphic organizer to take
notes.
PowerPoint– Lesson 4
Article - The Brain 101
Graphic organizer - The Amazing
Brain and Learning
5 – What can you
do to maintain a
healthy brain?
Students watch a video on the brain
and write a reflection.
PowerPoint– Lesson 5
Video - Top 5 Ways to Get Smarter
6 – What can you
do to manage
stress?
Students read a few pages of an article
or watch a video and write a
reflection.
PowerPoint– Lesson 6
Article – What You Should Know
About Your Brain –(pages 1-2)
7 – Why is practice
so important to
your brain?
Students engage in a class activity,
read a short excerpt of an article and
write a reflection.
PowerPoint– Lesson 7
Article – What You Should Know
About Your Brain –(page 3)
8 – Why is
challenge
important to your
brain?
9 – How can you
identify fixed and
growth mindsets?
10- Must you fail in
order to succeed?
What can you do to grow your
intelligence?
PowerPoint– Lesson 8
Video – Increase Your Brain Power
Students study an infographic and do
a quick write, relating an experience
to one of the mindsets.
Students view video and write a
reflection.
PowerPoint– Lesson 9
Infographic – Fixed Mindset vs.
Growth Mindset
PowerPoint– Lesson 10
Video - Michael Jordan - Failures
11 – How can you
fix a fixed mindset?
Students view a video and complete a
Thinking Map.
PowerPoint– Lesson 11
Video – Life = Risk
12 – How can you
grow a growth
mindset?
Students review an informational text
and write a reflection.
PowerPoint– Lesson 12
Resource - The Brain Toolkit
Building Better Brains - A Guide to Promote a Growth Mindset in Students
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Lesson 1
Can You Grow Your Intelligence?
Enduring
Understanding
Intelligence is something that is malleable and can be developed
through learning and study.
Materials
PowerPoint – Lesson 1
Article – You Can Grow Your Intelligence
Slide 2: “What we’re going to learn about is based on research
done to understand how young people can become more
successful in their lives.”
Slide 3: Read the slide, then say, “The purpose of this exercise is
for you to start thinking about how what I am about to share in
brain research will help you face some setbacks or problems in
school.”
Slide 4: “Here’s what some young people had to say…Can
someone read this for us?”
Slide 5: “Who can read this one? So we can see that these are
common problems. Fortunately, lots of scientific research shows
that these problems can be overcome by learning about the brain.
Slide 6: Students read prompt and write in their journals.
Slide 7: Students read article, You Can Grow Your Intelligence
either online (in pdf form) or in hardcopy form.
Instructions
Teacher
Reflection
Building Better Brains - A Guide to Promote a Growth Mindset in Students
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Lesson 2
How is Your Brain Like a Muscle?
Enduring
Understanding
Materials
The hippocampus can physically increase in size with “exercise”
– that is, active and repetitive thinking.
PowerPoint – Lesson 2
Video – Why Do London Cab Drivers Have Bigger Brains?
Slide 2: “Today we are going to see if a brain get bigger by
“exercising” it.”
Slide 3: Play the video
Slide 4: “Anyone who has ever been to London knows that if
you want to figure out where you’re going it’s one of the
hardest cities in the world. The streets are a tangled mess.
Researchers carried out this famous study with London cab
drivers. They measured the hippocampus (the area of the brain
that remembers information about places) in London
cabdrivers and compared it’s size to other people’s
hippocampus. The cabbies’ brains were bigger, and the longer
they were on the job, the bigger this area of the brain became.
This shows that learning and practicing this skill made that area
of their brain grow.”
Slide 5: “The brain, when you drill down deeper, is actually a
dense network of neurons, or brain cells, that are connected.
Now let’s drill down even further to look at just one brain cell,
or neuron.”
Slide 6: “In this diagram we’re just looking at one cell. There
are several parts that are important:
-First, you can see the cell body. That’s the center of the cell
that houses the genetic material. This material can be altered by
the environmental signals the cell receives.
-The cell receives messages through the dendrites. These cell
ends splay out from the cell body to receive information from
other nerve cells. Dendrites send information to the cell body,
which then puts out its own signal along it’s long cable.
-We call this long cable the axon. It carries an electrical
message out to its transmitters.
-Putting this all together, the axon transmitter changes this
signal to a chemical that crosses a space to the next cell, and
that cell picks the signal up with its dendrites, changes it to an
electrical message and sends the message back to its own cell
body.”
Slide 7: Play video.
Slide 8: Read slide.
Instructions
Teacher
Reflection
Building Better Brains - A Guide to Promote a Growth Mindset in Students
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Lesson 3
How does your brain grow?
Enduring
Understanding
The brain is a dense network of neurons that are connected.
The brain grows by increasing the number and thickness of
these connections (neural pathways).
PowerPoint Lesson 3
Video - Neurons
Slide 2: “Today we are look at how the brain grows.”
Slide 3: “Here is an image of the brain from the side.”
Slide 4: “Here’s a diagram of the brain from the top of the head.
Let’s zoom in to see how it functions.”
Slide 5: “In the diagram below, we’re just looking at one cell.
There are several parts that are important.
• First, you can see the cell body. That’s the center of the
cell that houses the genetic material. This material can
be altered by the environmental signals the cell receives.
• The cell receives messages through the dendrites.
These cell ends splay out from the cell body to receive
information from other nerve cells. Dendrites send
information to the cell body, which then puts out its own
signal along it’s long cable.
• We call this long cable the axon. It carries an electrical
message out to its transmitters.
• Putting this all together, the axon transmitter changes
this signal to a chemical that crosses a space to the next
cell, and that cell picks the signal up with its dendrites,
changes it to an electrical message and sends the
message back to its own cell body.
Slide 6: “ Let’s watch this video illustrating the brain
connections when thinking and learning takes place.”
Slide 7: Read slide.
Materials
Instructions
Teacher
Reflection
Building Better Brains - A Guide to Promote a Growth Mindset in Students
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Lesson 4
How does your brain function? What does it control?
Enduring
Understanding
Every part of the brain contains neurons that transmit
information that it accesses through our senses. The brain
controls everything we do (involuntarily or voluntarily).
PowerPoint – Lesson 4
Article – The Brain 101
Graphic Organizer – The Amazing Brain and Learning
Slide 2 “Today we are going to take a look at how the brain
functions and what it controls.”
Slide 3: Read slide.
Materials
Instructions
Teacher
Reflection
Building Better Brains - A Guide to Promote a Growth Mindset in Students
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Lesson 5
What can you do to maintain a healthy brain?
Enduring
Understanding
The brain needs fuel (water and foods rich in Omega 3), sleep
(8-9 hours per night), exercise and challenge in order to thrive.
Materials
PowerPoint – Lesson 5
Video – The Top 5 Ways To Get Smarter
Slide 2: “Today we will learn how to maintain a healthy brain.”
Slide 3: Read slide. Then, “The brain is the biggest energy eater
in your body, burning about 30% of the fuel your body uses.”
Slide 4: Play video
Slide 5: “With all that energy being used, your brain needs
certain things to function well.
- Fuel: Your brain needs healthy foods with Omega-3’s
such as Eggs, Nuts and Fish
- Sleep: Your brain needs to recharge for at least 1/3 of
the time (8-9 hours of sleep). If not, you forget things
more easily.
- Exercise: Movement and exercise increase breathing
and heart rate so that more blood flows to the brain. A
recent study found that walking actually improves
memory.
- Challenge: If you don’t use brain cells, you’ll lose them.
Research shows that the more you challenge your brain,
the more connections you grow between cells.”
Slide 6: Read slide.
Instructions
Teacher
Reflection
Building Better Brains - A Guide to Promote a Growth Mindset in Students
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Lesson 6
What can you do to manage stress?
Enduring
Understanding
The amygdala is a system for routing information to the
prefrontal cortex (the “thinking” brain) or the lower automatic
brain (the “reactive” brain) based on one’s emotional state.
Materials
PowerPoint – Lesson 6
Article – What You Should Know About Your Brain
Slide 2: “Today we are going to learn about the “thinking” part
of the brain and the “reactive” part of the brain, as well as what
we can do to manage stress.”
Slide3: Students read pages 1 and 2 of the article.
Slide 4: “Please sit in pairs for this reflection. Read these
challenges posed and based on what you just read in the “What
You Can Do” sections, try to come up with possible solutions for
either or both of these challenges.” After two minutes, have a
few of them share.
Slide 5: “Possible responses to these challenges might
include…” Read slide.
Instructions
Teacher
Reflection
Building Better Brains - A Guide to Promote a Growth Mindset in Students
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Lesson 7
Why is practice important to your brain?
Enduring
Understanding
When someone practices something they’ve learned, dendrites
actually grow between nerve cells in the network that holds
memory.
PowerPoint – Lesson 7
Article – What You Should Know About Your Brain
Slide 2: “Today we will examine why practice and repetition is
important for the brain.”
Slide 3: Teacher and students stand in a circle holding hands.
You say, “I’m going to say START to indicate when the
timekeeper should begin the stopwatch. At that moment, I am
going to squeeze the hand to my right. As soon as you feel your
left hand squeezed, you squeeze your right hand. When the
“signal” gets back to me, in other words, when I feel my left
hand getting squeezed, I will say STOP as a signal for the
timekeeper to stop the stopwatch.”
After three rounds say, “Look at how the time improved after
each round. Each time got easier, right? This is emblematic of
how neurons in the brain travel faster and faster when an
action or thought is repeated over and over again.”
Slide 4: Read slide
Slide 5: Have students read the section on page 3 of the article,
titled, The Hippocampus
Slide 6: Read slide and say, “This is why many people say
“practice makes perfect!”
Slide 7: Read slide, then say, “This is why if you just cram for a
test and don’t study the material until the last minute your
brain would be likely to forget the knowledge in the long term.”
Materials
Instructions
Teacher
Reflection
Building Better Brains - A Guide to Promote a Growth Mindset in Students
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Lesson 8
Why is challenge important to your brain?
Enduring
Understanding
When you try new things that are really hard, the brain makes
new connections to transfer information better and faster.
Materials
PowerPoint – Lesson 8
Video – Increase Your Brain Power
Slide 2 “Today we are going to learn more about why challenge is
important to your brain.”
Slide3: Read slide.
Slide 4: Play video
Slide 5: Read slide.
Instructions
Teacher
Reflection
Building Better Brains - A Guide to Promote a Growth Mindset in Students
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Lesson 9
Can you identify a fixed mindset and a growth mindset?
Enduring
Understanding
Someone with a fixed mindset believes that intelligence and
talent are fixed at birth, whereas someone with a growth
mindset believes that intelligence and talent are malleable and
can grow.
PowerPoint – Lesson 9
Infographic – Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset
Slide 2 “Today we are going to examine the differences
between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset.”
Slide3: Read slide, then say, “Some people believe that you are
born an “artistic person” or a “math person” or a “natural
athlete” and that you can’t really change those labels. Luckily
we have proof that your brain can grow and change and that
people’s mindsets can change from fixed to growth.”
Slide 4: “Here are some more differences between the two
mindsets.”
Read slide.
Slide 5: Read slide, then say, “Sometimes people say - Hey, I
listened to what you said about growth mindset and tried
REALLY hard and still didn’t succeed – I tell them that just
putting out a lot of effort doesn’t always do it. You can flap your
arms all you want, but you’re not going to fly.
The trick is to put in the effort, the right strategies, and get help
from others.”
Slide 6: “Take a look at the information on this sheet with a
partner. Then discuss any connections you recognize in yourself
or others with respect to both mindsets.”
Materials
Instructions
Teacher
Reflection
Building Better Brains - A Guide to Promote a Growth Mindset in Students
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Lesson 10
Must you fail in order to succeed?
Enduring
Understanding
One will never realize his or her full potential unless they fail
and learn from their failures, make mistakes and learn from
those mistakes.
Materials
PowerPoint – Lesson 10
Video – Michael Jordan - Failures
Slide 2 “Today we will look at the symbiotic relationship
between failure and success.”
Slide3: Read slide, then say, “Turns out this is the same person
– Thomas Edison. In fixed mindset, we use labels to explain
everything and we tend to look at the outcome, not always the
process. Only with a growth mindset do we stick with a goal
and understand that failure is a pathway to success.”
Slide 4: Read the slide, then say, “Anyone know who this is?
Let’s watch this short video about Michael Jordan.”
Slide 5: View clip, then say, “Did you know that people used to
say that Michael Jordan’s brother was going to be the basketball
star? They used to say that his brother was the “natural athlete”
in the family.”
Slide 6: Read slide.
Instructions
Teacher
Reflection
Building Better Brains - A Guide to Promote a Growth Mindset in Students
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Lesson 11
How can you fix a fixed mindset?
Enduring
Understanding
Learning about how the brain works and that adopting a new
attitude towards intelligence can move someone from a fixed
mindset to a growth mindset.
Materials
PowerPoint – Lesson 2
Video – Life = Risk
Slide 2 “Today we are going to take see what it takes to change
a fix mindset.”
Slide3: Say, “Please get into pairs and talk about how you might
convince someone to change these fixed mindset beliefs.”
Slide 4: Read slide and say, “Research shows that it takes
effort, strategies and help to improve and grow your brain.
Malcolm Gladwell wrote a famous book about highly successful
people. He points out that musicians like The Beatles or athletes
like Kobe Bryant put in 10,000 hours of practice to become
great at what they do. They didn’t start out as superstars, rather
they worked hard at it. The Beatles used to play eight-hour
shows to improve their playing. Kobe Bryant is famously known
for working out harder and longer than many of his peers.”
Slide 5: “The next time you are faced with a challenge and you
are struggling to learn something, remember that challenge or
struggle is a good thing!. Picture your dendrites trying to reach
each other when faced with a challenge.”
Slide 6: “Only by accepting the challenges and understanding
that the more you face them, the more effort you put in (with a
the right strategies), the greater chance you have growing these
connections.”
Instructions
Teacher
Reflection
Building Better Brains - A Guide to Promote a Growth Mindset in Students
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Lesson 12
How can you grow a growth mindset?
Enduring
Understanding
One can develop and nurture a growth mindset by accepting
challenges, persevering in solving problems and believing that
their intelligence and potential is in their own hands.
Materials
PowerPoint – Lesson 12
Resource packet – The Brain Toolkit
Slide 2 “Today we are going to reflect on everything we’ve
learned about the brain, how it works and how having a growth
mindset can have big implications for our lives.”
Slide 3: ““Let’s look at The Brain Toolkit. It’s a compilation of
some of the “greatest hits” of what we’ve learned about the
brain. Please read the section labeled “The Growth Mindset”
and highlight parts that are important to you.”
Slide 4: Read slide.
Instructions
Teacher
Reflection
Building Better Brains - A Guide to Promote a Growth Mindset in Students
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Building Better Brains - A Guide to Promote a Growth Mindset in Students
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