Research election results in your home state for the past two elections. Write one paragraph explaining which political party gained or lost seats in Congress and which candidate won the
presidential vote in your state. Write a second paragraph analyzing the impact of voter turnout
on these results. This portion of the assignment is worth 16 points.

There are two ways to view intelligence or ability:
ability it is fixed or ingrained – in other words, we are born with a certain level of ability and we cannot change that. this is called a fixed mindset.
we can develop our ability through hard work and effort. this is called a growth mindset.
these two different beliefs lead to different behaviour, and also to different results. for example, students with a growth mindset were shown to increase their grades over time. those who believed that their intelligence was ingrained did not; in fact, their grades got worse.
having a growth mindset (the belief that you are in control of your own ability, and can learn and improve) is the key to success.
yes, hard work, effort, and persistence are all important, but not as important as having that underlying belief that you are in control of your own destiny.