3A Put Your Thinking Cap On

“There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so”. This quote by Shakespeare relates directly to what we have been discussing in Inquiry class this week. My perspective of this quote is that Shakespeare is saying that nothing is truly ever good or bad unless we begin to think of it in that way. This thinking process can be placed into two categories; growth mindset and fixed mindset. A person who has a fixed mindset believes that they are born with whatever intelligence level they have, but a person with a growth mindset is very open minded and puts more effort and time into their learning. Someone who has a fixed mindset would look at something, whether its positive or negative, and associate their view and stick with it. Someone with a growth mindset would look at it from both perspectives, associate their view, and still keep an open mind on the topic due to their willingness to learn. Though a growth mindset sounds like it would be the most ideal of the two, a fixed mindset may work better for others, and vise versa.

This quote also relates to another topic we’ve been discussing in Inquiry this week which is Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is where a person is driven by internal awards and Extrinsic motivation is when a physical reward or praise is given. In order to be successful in life you need to have some type of motivation to drive you to achieve the things you want. No matter if your motivation comes from a positive or negative role model, motivation is motivation. In a classroom getting grades are Extrinsic motivation to the students receiving them because it is a reward or punishment based on their study efforts. Using grades in a school makes students more willing to learn and reach a higher gr ade. But with Intrinsic motivation, there are no physical rewards given. Their motivation may be for the love of learning and wanting to broaden their knowledge. Not everyone has the same type of motivation. Some may be more motivated by rewards and others may just be self motivated, it just depends on their personality.