Math Mindsets

I'm sure we've all heard about growth mindsets before by now. Generally, a growth mindset is one where you embrace challenge and believe you can accomplis anything you set your mind to. A fixed mindset, on the other hand, is one where you believe your mind is 'fixed' and you can't learn something you don't know naturally. It's summarized in the following graphic.

Retrieved from: http://big-change.org/growth-mindset/ 
In math, especially, they're important. As discussed briefly last week, there is not a great attitude towards math in our schools. Part of addressing that, is breaking the idea that only some people are good at math and those who aren't never will be. We need to praise students for effort and encourage them to continuously seek challenges and opportunities for growth. The following video discusses this idea as it relates to math.


This idea of not praising students for being 'smart' is new to me, but I can immediately see the reasoning and will avoid using the word during my placement. It puts undue pressure on students and discourages them from pursuing more challenging questions. 

Comments

  1. Saira16 September 2016 at 20:07

    I, too, didn't think about the negative impact about calling a student 'smart' until I saw this video. I see now that praise for hard work is more valuable and progressive in student achievement. Thanks for the post!

    ReplyDelete

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