ANYONE can be good at math! And MISTAKES actually help your brain grow! Has your child told you that this week? Hopefully this has come up, as we spent the first few weeks of virtual school learning all about how having a growth mindset in math is key to success in this subject area.
Students watched and discussed a series of videos created by Dr. Jo Boaler, Professor of Mathematical Education at Stanford University, which translates Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck's theories of growth vs. fixed mindset into math practices. These practices are designed to promote a growth mindset in math, banish math anxiety and bust some age-old myths about math. Those are ideas like: You have to be fast at math to be good at it. Math is a boring subject all about rote memorization which does not require any creativity.
At Seabury, we know different!
We have learned how the STRUGGLE to understand difficult math concepts, which can sometimes feel overwhelming and frustrating, is just a part of exercising your brain to "build your brain muscle." Students who look at that struggle as an exciting challenge, and persevere in trying to solve problems in different ways, demonstrate much higher levels of achievement in math than students who have memorized algorithms or processes without fully understanding what they are doing with the numbers. This idea of struggle being a GOOD thing is an important concept for gifted perfectionists, who often are not used to being challenged in their areas of strength, and often give up rather than take on a challenge they might not soar through.
Thank you, Youcubed, for setting us up for a successful year of math exploration and growth! We are already enjoying inspirational math challenges like the Four 4's – part of the "week of inspirational math" on the Youcubed website.
5th graders used Zoom breakout rooms to collaborate on problem sets of 2s, 3s, 4,s and 5s to figure out how to make an equation with a given answer true. It was a great way to dust off our calculation skills and to explore the idea that there is more than one solution to a problem – and that struggling with mathematical thinking can be FUN!
Here's what some students said about what they learned:
"I changed my mind about mistakes. Mistakes are great! Mistakes can teach you math in ways some people can’t!"
"Yes, your brain grows when you make mistakes."
The most important thing I learned:
"Don't listen to stereotypes."
"Math is more used than I thought."
"Always take the challenge."
"No one is born a math person."
"You have to think deeply about the material. It is ok not to be very fast. It is important to be creative."
Welcome back, Seabury mathematicians!
Interested in learning more? Here's one of the videos we watched:
