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⚠️ WARNING ⚠️ Do NOT wait until January to start business planning for 2024. Christian mindset, neuroscience, & brain coach, Betsy Croney is back on the show to share why online coaches need to start setting their 2024 business goals a month EARLY in December! Discover the neuroscientific reasons why December is the better time to prime your business to ring in the new year
This is episode #39 with neuroscience researcher and clinician Stefanie Faye, whose research is focused on brainwaves, heart rhythms and micro-movements[i] that influence our ability to self-regulate and build healthy relationships. Listen to the interview here or watch the YouTube for the visuals.Welcome to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, my name is Andrea Samadi, I’m a former educator whose been fascinated with understanding the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports and the workplace for the past 20 years. Each week we bring you an expert who has risen to the top of their industry with specific strategies that you can implement immediately, whether you are a teacher or student in the classroom, or working in the corporate world, to take your results to the next level. I’ve got to give you a bit more background on Stefanie Faye Frank, whose graduate research at New York University and fieldwork at the NYU Phelps lab for neuroscience research, the NYU Institute for Prevention Science and Yeshiva University's Albert Einstein College of Medicine focused on the cross-section of self-directed neuroplasticity, empathy and social justice. For the past decade, she’s been teaching and consulting in countries all over the world by combining scientific insights and her training in monasteries with meditation masters from India, Africa and Vietnam. She has delivered a series of workshops for Google's Analytics Academy in London, Chicago, Tel Aviv, Munich and Singapore focused on the Science of Learning. Stephanie, I am so grateful to have you here today, to share some of your fascinating research with our listeners. I found your work through YouTube[ii], one night, when I was looking to take my understanding of Growth Mindset just a bit deeper for the programs that I offer in the school market. Then I came across one of your videos, that led me to your Mindset Neuroscience Podcast[iii], and then your interview with Maria Xenidou on How to Develop a Growth Mindset[iv] and from here I was blown away with your work, how simple you made everything seem, and I was hooked and wanted to learn everything. I love the FREE online courses you have on your website http://stefaniefaye.com/ and the fact that you are also Canadian (from Calgary) and I grew up in Toronto. Welcome Stefanie! Question 1: Stefanie, I watched your “Mindset Neuroscience” video course, and thoroughly enjoyed the way you connected neuroscience to building a growth mindset. We have covered Growth Mindset on this podcast with episode 20[v] with “Strategies for Overcoming Obstacles and Cognitive Biases.” I’ve mentioned an Ed Week survey that found that “the vast majority of educators believe that a growth-oriented mindset can help improve students’ motivation, commitment and engagement in learning. But the study found that applying those ideas to practice, and helping students shift their mindset around learning, remains an elusive challenge.”[vi] So applying growth mindset has proven to be something that has not been simple or easy to do—whether in the classroom, workplace, or even in the field of athletics. With your experience why is applying growth mindset proving to be so difficult? What’s happening or not happening at the brain level that we can learn from, to improve the application of these strategies? Question 2: You talk about some keys to building a Growth Mindset in your video course and one of the keys is to understand neuroplasticity (the ability for the brain to continually change over our lifespan) or how the brain creates high priority pathways with skills that we are practicing and then eliminates low priority pathways with skills we ignore. Can you explain how the brain re-wires itself using myelin and why patterned repetition is so important at the brain level for those skills we want to improve, develop and keep? Question 3: This is definitely the era where we are coming around more to the fact that we must celebrate mistakes and to fail quickly and often. Can you explain why this is so important to understand from a neuroscientific point of view? What happens to the brain when we fail, make mistakes or do something that we find challenging? Question 4: One of the most popular episodes, with the highest downloads to date on this podcast was on self-awareness[vii], showing me, this is an important topic to people all over the world. Listening to your podcast, Mindset Neuroscience, I learned about the term Interseption, or becoming aware of the sensations we have in our body and listening and learning to what we are feeling. I have heard before from Dr. Daniel Siegel (episode 28) where he mentions that we have a second brain. Can you explain what this is, is it like intuition? How it can help us with our self-awareness? How can we develop interception to help us be more confident with ourselves? Question 5: What do you think is the best way to teach self-regulation to students in the classroom, or even adults in the boardroom? No one seems to be immune from learning new skills to keep us on task. When someone is doing something that is working, how can they learn to replicate this experience so they can repeat this strategy in the future? On the other hand, when something is not working, instead of allowing frustrations to come and giving up, losing hope or momentum, how does someone know when and what to do or try next? Do we all need coaches to help guide us/offer feedback or is this a skill we can learn ourselves? Question 6: As we come to a close, and bring this all in together, is there anything that you think is important to emphasize about how the brain impacts our mindset, self-awareness and self-regulation? Stefanie, thank you so much for taking the time out of your weekend to speak with me here. I know this is a topic of high interest and appreciate you diving deep with me to help others gain more understanding. If someone wanted to learn more about you, is the best place where I found your online courses www.stefaniefaye.com? Be sure to see Stefanie’s TEDx Talk “Humans: the Most Experience-Dependent Species on the Planet.”[viii] Thank you! RESOURCES:[i] https://medium.com/delasign/muscle-mimicry-how-our-thoughts-generate-micro-movements-invisible-to-the-naked-eye-98f2a60f9830 [ii] Stefanie Faye YouTube “Why Growth Mindset Won’t Work” Published March 3, 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brfWMFKcsfI [iii] https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mindset-neuroscience-podcast/id1366359821 [iv] http://stefaniefayefrank.com/podcast/how-to-develop-a-growth-mindset-my-interview-with-maria-xenidou-part-2/ [v] https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/coaching-a-growth-mindset-strategies-for-overcoming-obstacles-and-cognitive-biases/ [vi] “Why Growth Mindset Still Has some Growing to Do” by Rupa Chandra Gupta Nov.12, 2018 https://www.edsurge.com/amp/news/2018-11-12-why-the-growth-mindset-still-needs-to-grow-up[vii] https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/self-awareness-know-thyself/ [viii] http://stefaniefayefrank.com/articles/my-tedx-talk-humans-the-most-experience-dependent-species-on-the-planet/
Production team:Host : Maria XenidouProducer: Julie-Roxane KrikorianIntroduction Voice: David BourneContact us:impactlearningpodcast@gmail.comMusic credits:Like Lee performed by The Mini VandalsTransition sounds: Swamp Walks performed by Jingle PunksWhere to find Stefanie Faye Frank:Stefanie's LinkedInStefaniefayefrank.comYoutube channelPodcast - Mindset Neuroscience PodcastUpcoming TEDx TalkStefanie's courses: http://stefaniefayefrank.com/store/The Growth Mindset CourseMentioned in this episodeMIT Physicist Max Erik TegmarkAngela Duckworth - the Grit researcherNY Times Article on Gabriele Oettingen and the concept of Mental ContrastingGabriele Oettingen's Wikipedia pageTo go further on Self-directed Neuroplasticity:Jeffrey M. Schwartz's websiteHis Wikipedia pageHis book: The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force with co-author Sharon BegleyDr. Mario BeauregardArticles:Neuroplasticity: Self-Directed Neuroplasticity ExercisesSelf-Directed Neuroplasticity: Consciously Changing Your Brain FunctionPaper by Tim Klein, Beth Kendall and Theresa Tougas, Changing Brains, Changing Lives: Researching the Lived Experience of Individuals Practicing Self-Directed NeuroplasticityListen to this episode and explore:How to develop a growth mindset? (3:09)- Safe environment- Knowing the neuroplasticity science behind it- Celebrating mistakes- Acknowledging the micro progressTeachers need to be learners and model mistakes as well (9:47)Self-directed neuroplasticity: Intention, Visualization, Action (13:21)The mark Stefanie wants to leave during her lifetime (28:09)
Production team: Host : Maria Xenidou Producer: Julie-Roxane Krikorian Introduction Voice: David Bourne Contact us: impactlearningpodcast@gmail.com Music credits: Like Lee performed by The Mini Vandals Transition sounds: Swamp Walks performed by Jingle Punks Where to find Stefanie Faye Frank: Stefanie's LinkedIn Stefaniefayefrank.com Youtube channel Podcast - Mindset Neuroscience Podcast Upcoming TEDx Talk Stefanie's courses: http://stefaniefayefrank.com/store/ The Growth Mindset Course Mentioned in this episode MIT Physicist Max Erik Tegmark Angela Duckworth - the Grit researcher NY Times Article on Gabriele Oettingen and the concept of Mental Contrasting Gabriele Oettingen's Wikipedia page To go further on Self-directed Neuroplasticity: Jeffrey M. Schwartz's website His Wikipedia page His book: The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force with co-author Sharon Begley Dr. Mario Beauregard Articles: Neuroplasticity: Self-Directed Neuroplasticity Exercises Self-Directed Neuroplasticity: Consciously Changing Your Brain Function Paper by Tim Klein, Beth Kendall and Theresa Tougas, Changing Brains, Changing Lives: Researching the Lived Experience of Individuals Practicing Self-Directed Neuroplasticity Listen to this episode and explore: Childhood: camping and creating her own radio shows (2:58) University and beyond: a multifaceted path leading to neuroscience (7:31) Stefanie’s defining moment (16:52) What she learnt in previous careers that she still uses now (19:08) Is a growth mindset innate or can we cultivate it? (20:51) Why are our brains different? The case of identical twins (28:20) The importance of celebrating mistakes (35:03) Why do we respond to mistakes differently? (41:33)
In Part three of my interview with Stefanie Faye Frank, we talk about the importance of developing beginners mind as teachers as a way to teach growth mindset from the context of our own authentic experiences. Sounds scary right? Nope…it doesn’t have to be. Stefanie shares a few easy and tangible ways that you can train your brain to be more adaptable, whether you want to help your students to grow or you want to develop beginner’s mind yourself. Struggle is an essential part of learning. Lean in. About Stephanie: WHAT I DO I show leaders how to help their staff adopt flexible mindsets, become more willing to learn, experiment, and tap into their brain’s highest levels of creative problem-solving. I combine my award-winning research at NYU, and fieldwork at the NYU Institute for Prevention Science, Phelps Lab for Neuroscience Research, the Department of Defense, Albert Einstein College of Medicine with training from meditation masters from India, Africa and Vietnam, and over a decade of counseling, consulting and teaching people on how to maximize their brain’s creative powers. I use interactive strategies as metaphors for scientific principles to help leaders internalize the idea of how these insights work in their own life, so they can then apply it in their work, relationships and daily interactions. WHO IT'S FOR For people who want to see their staff and clients be more open to try new approaches to learning and experiment with new ways of asking questions, solving problems, dealing with failure, and how to interact with others in socially intelligent ways. Mindset Neuroscience activates change using this 4-phase framework: Organizational context first. Your organization's culture – including the beliefs and behaviors of leadership – have HUGE influences your employees' mindset, our attitudes, beliefs, and state. This is the starting point. The mindset of your employees fuels their emotional intelligence, relationship management skills, and perseverance Those ‘non-cognitive’ skills then drive their actions and behaviors Their behaviors drive performance – for themselves, their teams and the organization. http://stefaniefayefrank.com/about/ Her videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgBcrJABukg&t=134s
In Part two of my interview with Stefanie Faye Frank, we explore the dark side of growth mindset and why it’s important to go beyond the superficial teaching of adaptability. We discuss some of the physiological clues that suggest whether a student in experiencing fight, flight or freeze and how to become more aware of our own body language in order to create a safe environment for our students. We discuss top down extremism, which is the belief that our success lies in our ability to control our own thoughts, rewrite our stories. While this can be a powerful model, it’s important to remember that someone’s adverse and traumatic experiences can make it extremely challenging to reframe their thinking. Therefore, thinking alone is not always enough to overcome adversity. We need to be advocates for creating better circumstances at home and within the classroom so that our students can be healthy, happy learners. We learned that when someone is in physiological distress or in a triggered stress response, they exhibit symptoms like alert or flat eyes, tension in their jaw, robotic voice (otherwise known as prosody) and that these micro signals can alert you before a child hits full meltdown or withdrawal mode. My hope is that we can be more aware of our children’s responses to events within our classrooms and allow students the space to regulate themselves when they feel triggered. About Stephanie: WHAT I DO I show leaders how to help their staff adopt flexible mindsets, become more willing to learn, experiment, and tap into their brain’s highest levels of creative problem-solving. I combine my award-winning research at NYU, and fieldwork at the NYU Institute for Prevention Science, Phelps Lab for Neuroscience Research, the Department of Defense, Albert Einstein College of Medicine with training from meditation masters from India, Africa and Vietnam, and over a decade of counseling, consulting and teaching people on how to maximize their brain’s creative powers. I use interactive strategies as metaphors for scientific principles to help leaders internalize the idea of how these insights work in their own life, so they can then apply it in their work, relationships and daily interactions. WHO IT'S FOR For people who want to see their staff and clients be more open to try new approaches to learning and experiment with new ways of asking questions, solving problems, dealing with failure, and how to interact with others in socially intelligent ways. Mindset Neuroscience activates change using this 4-phase framework: Organizational context first. Your organization's culture – including the beliefs and behaviors of leadership – have HUGE influences your employees' mindset, our attitudes, beliefs, and state. This is the starting point. The mindset of your employees fuels their emotional intelligence, relationship management skills, and perseverance Those ‘non-cognitive’ skills then drive their actions and behaviors Their behaviors drive performance – for themselves, their teams and the organization. http://stefaniefayefrank.com/about/ Her videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgBcrJABukg&t=134s
In part one of my interview with Stefanie Faye Frank, we discuss how the factory model of education and our behaviorist stimulus-response approach to teaching is holding our students back from being able to compete within the new connection economy. We discuss the importance of running our classroom like an innovation lab, where failing fast is important and taking risks through vulnerability and emotional labour is key to developing the adaptability our students need to be successful in the future. The old model of education celebrated obedience over creativity, promoted stereotyping vs individuality, and resulted in a system that rewarded people for following instructions to spec. The truth is that our students need a different set of skills, they need adaptability and we can help them to develop it through personalization of education. Listen to the next two episodes with Stefanie Faye Frank for our deep dive into how to develop growth mindset in our students and how to create classrooms that celebrate adaptability. About Stephanie: WHAT I DO I show leaders how to help their staff adopt flexible mindsets, become more willing to learn, experiment, and tap into their brain’s highest levels of creative problem-solving. I combine my award-winning research at NYU, and fieldwork at the NYU Institute for Prevention Science, Phelps Lab for Neuroscience Research, the Department of Defense, Albert Einstein College of Medicine with training from meditation masters from India, Africa and Vietnam, and over a decade of counseling, consulting and teaching people on how to maximize their brain’s creative powers. I use interactive strategies as metaphors for scientific principles to help leaders internalize the idea of how these insights work in their own life, so they can then apply it in their work, relationships and daily interactions. WHO IT'S FOR For people who want to see their staff and clients be more open to try new approaches to learning and experiment with new ways of asking questions, solving problems, dealing with failure, and how to interact with others in socially intelligent ways. Mindset Neuroscience activates change using this 4-phase framework: Organizational context first. Your organization's culture – including the beliefs and behaviors of leadership – have HUGE influences your employees' mindset, our attitudes, beliefs, and state. This is the starting point. The mindset of your employees fuels their emotional intelligence, relationship management skills, and perseverance Those ‘non-cognitive’ skills then drive their actions and behaviors Their behaviors drive performance – for themselves, their teams and the organization. http://stefaniefayefrank.com/about/ Her videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgBcrJABukg&t=134s