Growth Mindset vs. Math Mindset

What is a Math Mindset and how is it different than a growth mindset? Well, you have to look no further than Stanford University to find the answer. Carol Dweck, is the Stanford University professor who did groundbreaking research and coined the phrase growth mindset. Jo Boaler another Stanford professor applied those concepts to the area of mathematics.

Well, unfortunately a lot of students, parents and teachers have a fixed mindset (where they think there abilities can not change or be developed). They think you are either smart or you are not. This is true for many things in life, but tends to be more prevalent in math than any other subject. They don’t like to struggle and they don’t think you should have to work hard and don’t like getting negative feedback. They have their place on the mantel and they are fearful of losing it. There is actually tons of research that suggests that this fear of failure is one of the leading causes of teen suicide.

In math, many parents, students, and teachers believe there is such a thing as a math brain. Jo Boaler’s research shows just how important making mistakes are in math. When you make a mistake in math, synapse fire in your brain, so making mistakes in math is actually a really good thing. The fear of making mistakes and looking stupid is one of the reasons that people don’t like math.

Her research continues on to say that simply changing your mindset is not enough, you have to have to give kids rich math tasks. These tasks (are you sitting down) actually need to be real world applicable, have multiple ways of solving them and actually might have more than one right answer. Now I know what you are thinking, math has a right answer and a wrong answer. You are either right or wrong, which tends to be the reason people have a fixed mindset about math. When you look at math and change your persective, you just might see that there are multiple answers or ways of solving them.

Consider this problem:

2+2=4

Is that the only correct answer? Could it also be 22 or 220? If you are thinking they are bothe ones, then two plus two equals four. If you think that two tens plus two ones equals twenty two then you are also correct, as long as you can justify your answer with sound mathematical reasoning. This problem is illustrated beautifully in a short math film (its only ten minutes and I promise you that you will like it) called Alternative Math. As you watch it be thinking about the perspective of the teacher, student, parent, principal and school board. Once you see things from another’s perspective then you start to develop empathy vs sympathy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh3Yz3PiXZw&feature=share

One of my favorite stories is of a truck that got stuck underneath an overpass. Police, firefighters and engineers all crowded around trying to figure out how to get the truck unstuck. Then a kindergartener shouted, why don’t you just let the air out the of the tires. Guess what, that worked and they were able to get the truck unstuck. Unfortunately, this creative thinking is often squelched by teachers and curriculum. I challenge you to look at your own children or students in your school. Look at kindergartners and then look at fifth graders. If I gave them a challenge to do (like the marshmallow challenge) who do you think would win if it required creative thinking and innovative design. Most likely kindergartners unless those fifth graders got really good instruction with open ended assignments and they were not afraid to take risks and fail.

Failure is a term that has a very negative connotation. We associate it with a grade that indicates that you didn’t make your mark. Carol Dweck says that instead of giving a child an “F” that we should assign the grade “not yet”. Rita Pearson says we should slap a “plus two” on the top of the paper with a big smile face at the top. What if you think of the term “fail forward”. Now doesn’t that send a completely different message? See, if we learn from our mistakes, we fail forward. We use that fear of failure to grow.

If you are wondering if you, your child, or your students have a growth mindset or a fixed mindset, you have to look at six main components. Desires is the belief that you can learn new things. Skills is the belief that skills can be developed and are not fixed at birth. Effort is the belief that with hard work you can grow and get better. Setbacks is the belief that you can overcome obstacles and bounce back from adversity. Feedback, means that you use feedback to grow and improve instead of thinking about it as critisism. Lastly, talented peers has to deal with if you are inspired or threatened by people who are outperforming you.

What is interesting is that, most people are often a combination of both. For example, I might believe that I can get better with hard work and effort, but not like to get criticism or are jealous of people who are outperforming you. I mean, lets be honest, not many people like to get feedback that isn’t positive. In fact if I give you nine compliments and one thing to work on, what is the one thing you most likely will focus on or remember. Chances are, it isn’t the compliment. So we have to change the way that we give feedback to students in math.

Going back to the example above, if the student said the answer was 22 and the teacher thinks it is 4, rather than saying he is wrong, perhaps she should ask some probing questions to find out why he thinks that and, if needed, clear up a misconception. Imagine how different that conversation would have gone if the teacher acknowledged why he thought it was 22 and then clarified that she was seeing if he knew what 2 ones plus 2 ones is. So, in this example, all we needed was some specificity.

My challenge to you is this:

1. Stop using the word “smart”, this word actually is detrimental, because when they fail they think that they are no longer “smart”. Instead, praise effort. This way, when they fail forward, they will think that they just have to work harder.
2. Start giving kids problems with multiple approaches or answers. These open ended math questions or math tasks are so important to have to help change the way math is taught.
3. Start using the work “Not yet” when someone says they can’t do something. So if they say, I can’t multiply big numbers. Your response should be “You can’t multiply big numbers yet.”

How can I learn more about math mindset and growth mindset?

• I encourage you to check out Jo Boaler’s website http://www.youcubed.org/ or read her book Math Mindsets. She also has a great Ted Talk. Be sure to check out the videos tab of this blog to see some videos that I suggest watching.

Check out these math mindset posters.

This awesome colorful math poster set would make a great addition to any math classroom. The posters are centered around the seven mathematical ideas of building a math mindset in your classroom from Math Mindsets by Jo Boaler. M- Mistakes are valuableI- Ideas and Questions are importantN- Not abou…
— Read on www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Math-Mindset-Posters-4575972