Authentic Lessons for 21st Century Learning

Productive Math Mindsets—Everywhere!

K20 Center, Shayna Pond, Brittany VanCleave, Alexandra Parsons, Amber Stokes, Teresa Lansford | Published: June 30th, 2025 by K20 Center

Summary

No more: "I'm not a math person!" "Growth mindset" is more than a buzz phrase—it shapes instructional choices. This session explores what growth mindset is and how it can support reluctant math learners. The math achievement gap—the math anxiety and frustration that comes with that—is very real for teachers and students. To help with that, the root cause of why students disengage from learning math needs to be examined and addressed. In this session, we will dig into incremental (growth) mindset, how that applies specifically to learning math, and structures and strategies to help grow more resilient math students—in person or virtually.

Essential Question

How can I support productive mindsets in the mathematics classroom?

Snapshot

Engage

Participants explore the seven mindset messages from the book Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler.

Explore

Participants review different student scenarios and reflect on which mindset message the student displays and which mindset message the student may need more support with.

Explain

Participants look more closely at each of the seven components of a productive math mindset and discuss how to reinforce those components as educators in the classroom.

Extend

Participants explore one or two activities and explain how those activities support the mindset message they are matched with.

Evaluate

Participants think about and reflect on how they can use certain activities to support a growth mindset in their students.

Materials List

  • Presenter Slides (attached)

  • Student Profile Discussion Guide (attached)

  • Handout (attached; one per participant)

Learning Goals

  • Analyze characteristics of a growth mindset in math classrooms.

  • Identify growth mindset learning strategies in curriculum.

Engage

Begin the presentation on slide 4. Introduce the book Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler. Explain that the author writes about seven components, or "mindset messages," that help build a resilient growth mindset in math learning. Read the seven messages:

  1. All students can learn math to the highest levels.

  2. Mistakes are valuable.

  3. Questions are important.

  4. Math is about creativity and making sense.

  5. Math is about connections and communicating.

  6. Value depth over speed.

  7. Math class is about learning, not performing.

Share with participants that they should keep these in mind for the next activity.

Explore

Go through slides 5–8, explaining that each slide shows an example of a student you might meet in your classes. For each slide:

  1. Read the student’s characteristics aloud.

  2. Ask participants to picture one of their own students that meets this description.

  3. Ask participants to think about what strategies they already use with this type of learner, and what mindset messages would help this student grow.

  4. Use one of the optional integration methods below for participants to respond to questions 3 and 4.

  5. Review the results.

Explain

Explain to participants that they will now dive deeper into each of the seven components of a productive math mindset.

Show the chart on slide 9 to participants. For each mindset message, talk about how to reinforce that component in the classroom and any struggles that may arise for educators and students. Remind participants that they have this chart in their handout.

Extend

Display slide 10. Explain that below each mindset message, participants will find an activity or strategy that can support student growth.

Tell participants to pick one or two activities to read through while thinking of ways it supports the mindset message above it. Give participants 10 minutes to explore the resources. Then, have them share what they learned.

Start the 10-minute timer on slide 11.

Evaluate

Once time is up, move to slide 12. Go over the reflection questions and have participants share their answers, thoughts, and opinions.

Reflection Questions:

  • Based on your exploration of the activities, which one would you be most likely to incorporate into your classroom to support the growth mindset of your students?

  • Why did you pick this activity?

Resources