Mojo and the Growth Mindset

A Secret About the Brain
1. Why does Mojo want to leave school? Can you sometimes relate to how Mojo is feeling?
Mojo wants to leave school because he is convinced that he isn't smart enough and the only sensible thing he can do is to quit and leave school forever. I can't really relate to how he is feeling because I don't really experience a difficult time in the core subjects, which are the ones you are considered smart or not smart enough in.
2. What does Katie say to Mojo to convince him not to leave?
Katie tells Mojo that smart isn't something that comes out of nothing. It's something you work hard and achieve. Then Mojo becomes inspired to stay and work hard instead of quitting after the first thing that doesn't go his way.
3. Do you think Mojo can become smarter? Why or why not?
I think that Mojo can become a little bit smarter but I don't believe you can make that much of an increase by just hard work, it takes a lot of talent too. You can work hard to keep up and do your work and preparations, but you probably won't become a genius by just hard work without an ounce of talent.
4. What subject do you feel frustrated by sometimes? Can you see yourself becoming smarter in that subject? How?
Sometimes I get a little put down by music class and my inability to perform gets a little frustrating. Honestly, I can't really see myself getting much smarter in singing, but if I always practice maybe I can improve my performance a tad bit.

The Magic of Mistakes
1. What does the quote from the video, "mistakes can make you smarter" mean to you?

The quote doesn't really mean anything or resonate to me, but I guess it says that you should never give up and always keep trying. The mistakes will tell you what not to do next time and help you improve.
2. How can we learn from our mistakes? Talk about a specific, recent example.

We can learn from our mistakes in many different ways. For example in handball I used to always stand on my toes, which is wrong. When my coach told me, I practiced not doing it. That way I could improve and learn from my mistakes.3. If you were building a robot and kept "failing,” what would you do?

If I really needed the robot I would probably just start from the beginning and review everything I had done previously. That way I could find out what I did wrong.

The power of yet
1. What should you do if you are stuck on a project, math problem, or other learning?

You could either think everything through to find what you did wrong if that is applicable in this particular situation, or you could ask someone for help so you can figure it out together.
2. Think of a time you were afraid to ask for help. Why did you feel afraid?

Once I was afraid to ask for help when I couldn't reach a bowl at the top of our kitchen cabinet. I was afraid to ask my brother for help because I thought he would tease me or something. When I finally asked him he didn't do anything, and I got the bowl.
3. Why is the word "yet" so powerful? Think of a "yet" moment in your life and describe it.

The word carries suck power because it tells that you are going to do it or figure it out eventually, you just haven't got to it yet. When I was supposed to play the piano in music class when we were working on a song I couldn't do it at first, but I worked hard and tried until I could. After some practicing I nailed it and I got an A in playing the piano.

The world of neurons
1. What are neurons and how do we make connections between our neurons?

Neurons are small cells that connect and enable you to do things. The brain is made out of them and they talk to each other by electric signals.
2. Think of an example where you made some new connections in your brain. What were you doing?

When I was in music class the teacher was talking about time periods. Then I thought of the time when we working with the same ones in Swedish class. I was able to make the connection.

3. What can you do this week to make some new connections? Set one specific goal.

I can challenge myself by reading and watching more challenging things so that I learn more.

Mojo puts it all together

1. What does it feel like when something is too challenging? Is it wrong that we feel this way?

It feels hopeless and boring and like you don't want to try anymore if it's too much hard. If something is just a little bit too hard, then it feels fun and challenging and like you can't give up and you need to figure out the answer. I guess it's a little bit sad that we feel that way if something is way too hard because you quit and give up. However, it's good that we try harder when something is just on the brink of you finding the answer.
2. What kind of attitude should we take on when facing a challenge, and why is that important?

It's important to be determined and want to solve it because otherwise you aren't as motivated to figure out a solution. When your attitude is bad you most likely won't succeed, but if you're determined to never give up sooner or later you'll find the answer.
3. When taking on a challenge, it's okay to ask for help or to take a break to reflect, like Mojo did! Does this mean we aren't growing our brain anymore?
It doesn't mean that our brain isn't growing. The brain functions like other muscles that need time off to grow. You need to rest it and periodically take it a little easy.


Katie discovers the dip
1. What is a dip?

A dip is a time when you aren't doing as well and you're feeling a bit down. It's a dip in your mood or performance. When you are facing a hard challenge you might experience a dip when you get stuck or you're confidence regarding the task isn't what it should be.
2. Where/what situations might we encounter a dip in?

When you are facing something difficult, for example a hard game or a test, you might have a dip. When you think the game will be impossible to win or you'll never do well in the test you stop thinking you can do it and get stuck. Then you want to give up and that's when most dips are encountered.

3. What kind of emotions accompany a dip, and how can we stay positive?

When encountering a dip you might feel bad and useless. You are often a little bit blue and feel like nothing you do is good enough, but you have to keep trying and stay focused and positive to be able to succeed. Remember, mistakes make you smarter, and without trying success is impossible.

Climbing out of the dip

1. What should you do when you make a mistake?
When you make a mistake you need to learn from it and think of new ways to try out. The mistakes aren't the problem, it's how you handle them. If you keep trying and learning from your mistakes eventually you'll figure out a solution, but if you quit then you can't.

2. What will happen if you continue to repeat this process? Try using the word "neuron" in your explanation!
You will grow smarter if you never stop trying and giving up. Your neurons will make connections they otherwise wouldn't have made, turning you into a smarter person. You will also start to succeed with more things since you don't give up. However you might not be able to do as many things because you don't have time since you never quit.
3. So how do we escape the dip?
The only way to escape the dip is to just try harder. You need to work yourself out of it. If you give up then you'll get stuck in the dip, so you need to keep trying and learning from your mistakes.

The big show
1. How does it feel to escape the dip? Can you have more than one dip?

Escaping the dip gives a very satisfying feeling because you start making progress after trying really hard and see results, which is always a very good feeling. Of course you can have more than one dip, because many things can go wrong and you can feel like your not good or smart enough a lot of times on one project.
2. Often we want to be the best at what we are doing. Instead of comparing our success with others, what kind of attitude can we have?

We can instead compare ourselves to our previous results. When you're running for instance you can compare your times to what your times were a year ago rather than whoever ran the fastest. Then you can see the progress you've made instead of that you're worse than the best person. That way you can grow, both as a runner because you always try to beat yourself and improve and as a person because not comparing yourself to others helps you lose jealousy and comparing other people to each other.

3. In the video, Mojomus Edison says that failing is "learning new ways to improve." What does that mean?

It means is that you don't fail, instead you eliminate possible options until you find the right one and you can think of what you should do better next time, so you never get worse by failing, only better.