Kiwi PyCon 2015 keynote - Allison Kaptur

1. Effective Learning
Allison Kaptur
@akaptur

2. Recurse Center

3. 1. Mindset
2. Strategies

4. What to get out of
this talk

5. Growth mindset:
Carol Dweck

6. These theories cause
differences in effort

7. "Praise that
backfires"

8. Response to confusion

9. Response to confusion
"How can one best describe the nature of people who will
most of all be that way which will make the imitating of others
happen most often? Is it that these are the poeple we want to
be like because they are fine or is it that these are the people
we want to be liked by?"

10. Programmers need a
growth mindset

11. Does anyone believe in a fixed
mindset?

12. Does anyone believe in a fixed
mindset?
10x engineers

13. Does anyone believe in a fixed
mindset?
Hero worship

14. Can you change a fixed mindset?
Heck yes

15. How do you identify a fixed
mindset?
"I am .."
"Some people are
just ..."

16. How do you change a fixed
mindset?
Reframe praise &
success

17. How do you change a fixed
mindset?
Reframe failure

18. How do you change a fixed
mindset?
Celebrate challenges

19. How do you change a fixed
mindset?
Ask about processes

20. Confidence &
imposter syndrome

21. Confidence doesn't
help you
respond to challenges
Henderson & Dweck, 1990

22. Break the framework

23. Self-theories: Their role in
motivation, personality, and
development
Mindset

24. Strategies

25. Make it Stick

26. Learning is an
acquired skill

27. 1. Effortful retrieval
>
rereading

28. 2. Spaced practice
>
massed practice
Spaced - Varied - Interleaved

29. 3. Difficulty is
(usually) desirable

30. This all feels terrible

31. Implementing
Effortful retreival

32. Implementing
Spaced practice

33. Implementing
Difficulty & errors

34. Recap
Growth mindset
Effortful retrieval
Spaced practice
Desirable difficulties

35. Thanks!
My thanks to everyone who gave me feedback on early
versions of this talk:
- Maggie Zhou
- Amy Hanlon
- Alyssa Frazee
- Julia Evans
Thanks to the Kiwi PyCon organizers for inviting me!
Slides by Deckset

36. Q & A / Pop quiz!
• What impact does confidence have on success?
• What are some ways to create spaced practice?
• What are two strategies for turning a fixed mindset into a
growth mindset?