We are Shelburne Middle School in Staunton, Virginia, and we implemented the Brainology program with our entire 6th grade. The challenge we were looking to address with Brainology was the fixed mindset with which too many students enter 6th grade. It's tragic that by the tender age of 11, many have decided that past failures have locked them into a life of continuous failure and limited success in school. We hoped that this program would help to change that. We also wanted our 6th graders to have a more positive outlook that would help them in the rest of their educational careers, as well as in their social, physical, and emotional development. We were excited to see that it would support what we had previously been trying to teach our students about the importance of effort, how the brain works, and what constitutes good study habits. We loved the fact that Brainology educated our students about how the brain is an organ that can grow, and that intelligence is not fixed.
