It is important that parents, guardians and educators help students build a math mindset. This can encourage students to develop a desire to learn and improve their skills through hard work and persistence. At the 51黑料, we've collected resources for families and educators to assist with this process.
How to build a math mindset
Educators, including parents and guardians, play a central role in demonstrating to children that everyone can learn, and that learning is the result of effort and application, not an inherent intelligence that some have, and others do not. Check out these tips to build a math mindset.
Praise |
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Every word and action sends a message. It tells children how to think about themselves. When you offer praise, make sure to praise the student's effort, resilience and hard work 鈥� not their intelligence. Here are some examples of positive praise that can help build a math mindset:
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Feedback |
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A growth mindset means that a child will be open to feedback and welcome it. We can use feedback to help students focus on improving their own performance, in small achievable steps. When providing feedback, we should:
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Learning from mistakes |
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It is important that students learn to find value in mistakes. Let students know that you appreciate mistakes and it's through mistakes that our brains grow. Thomas Edison said,
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Developing productive beliefs about teaching math
Math lessons should centre on engaging students in tasks that promote reasoning and problem solving. This includes:
- Encouraging student interactions
- Teaching students how to understand math concepts and procedures
It is important that teachers have productive beliefs about math to be able to teach in an engaging way.
Productive beliefs |
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Here are some productive beliefs about math that will help improve your teaching:
Students should be actively involved in making sense of math tasks by using:
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Unproductive beliefs |
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Here are some unproductive beliefs that can prevent your students from learning math and developing a positive relationship with math:
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Tips for developing a growth mindset
Here are some tips you can follow to help you develop a growth mindset that will lead to a fuller understanding and appreciation for math:
- Instead of thinking 鈥淚'm not good at this,鈥� try thinking 鈥淲hat am I missing?鈥�
- Instead of thinking 鈥淚 give up,鈥� try thinking 鈥淚'll use a different strategy鈥�
- Instead of thinking 鈥渋t's good enough,鈥� try thinking 鈥淚s this really my best work?鈥�
- Instead of thinking 鈥淚 can't make this any better,鈥� try thinking 鈥淚 can always improve鈥�
- Instead of thinking 鈥淭his is too hard,鈥� try thinking 鈥淭his may take some time鈥�
- Instead of thinking 鈥淚 made a mistake,鈥� try thinking 鈥淢istakes help me learn鈥�
- Instead of thinking 鈥淚 just can't do this,鈥� try thinking 鈥淚 am going to train my brain鈥�
- Instead of thinking 鈥淚'll never be that smart,鈥� try thinking 鈥淚 will learn how to do this鈥�
- Instead of thinking 鈥淢y friend can do it,鈥� try thinking 鈥淚 will learn from my friend鈥�
Build a growth mindset not a fixed mindset
A student with a fixed mindset believes their basic abilities, their intelligence, and their talents are fixed traits. They have a certain amount and that's that, and then their goal becomes to look smart all the times. A student with a growth mindset understands that their talents and abilities can be developed through effort, good teaching and persistence. Here are some common characteristics of each.
Growth mindset |
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A growth mindset leads to a desire to learn and a tendency to:
As a result, they reach even higher levels of achievement. |
Fixed mindset |
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A fixed mindset leads to a desire to look smart and a tendency to:
As a result, they may plateau early and achieve less than their full potential. |