To help your child become an autonomous and resilient learner:
Help your child cultivate a sense of purpose, which will contribute to developing grit.
David Yeager is an Assistant Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Texas, Austin, and a leading expert on grit and growth mindset. A colleague of both Angela Duckworth and Carol Dweck, some of his research focuses on how developing a sense of purpose plays a role in fostering the grit we need to become lifelong learners at school, at work, and in life.
In one of his studies, simply starting a conversation among students about how to make the world a better place had a tangible impact on the students’ engagement with their school: their shared reflections made them connect better with what they we were doing in school and energized student commitment.
To help your child cultivate a sense of purpose, help her find something that inspires her, whether by reading or watching biographies of inspirational people or by getting involved with people or organizations that do inspiring work.