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—and the math anxiety and frustration 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—whether in person or virtually.
Essential Question
How can I support productive mindsets in the mathematics classroom?
Learning Goals
Analyze characteristics of a growth mindset in math classrooms.
Identify growth mindset learning strategies in their curriculum.
Snapshot
Engage
Explore
Explain
Extend
Evaluate
Materials List
Presenter Slides (attached)
Student Profile Discussion Guide (attached)
Handout (attached; 1 per participant)
Engage
Begin the presentation on slide 4. Introduce the book Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler. Explain that in this book, the author writes seven components, or "mindset messages," that help build a resilient growth mindset in math learning. Read the seven messages:
All students can learn math to the highest levels.
Mistakes are valuable.
Questions are important.
Math is about creativity and making sense.
Math is about connections and communicating.
Value depth over speed.
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:
Read aloud the student’s characteristics.
Ask participants to picture one of their own students that meets this description.
Ask participants to think about what strategies they already use with this type of learner, and what mindset messages would help this student grow.
Ask participants to visit the Mentimeter (Menti.com) with the attached code and select the mindsets that they feel this learner needs support with.
Review the results.
Refer to the Student Profile Discussion Guide for elaboration on responses that come in through Menti.com.
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 students’ growth.
Tell participants to pick one or two activities to read through while thinking of ways it supports the mindset message above it. Participants will have 10 minutes to explore the resources, then they will share what they have 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?
Enter your answers in the chat box.
Resources
Boaler, J. (2022). Mathematical mindsets: Unleashing students' potential through creative mathematics, inspiring messages and innovative teaching (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass.
Brzezinski, T. (n.d.). Polygons: Exterior Angles - REVAMPED. GeoGebra. https://www.geogebra.org/m/mKzJCf5p
Desmos. (n.d.). Click Battle. https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/59233ca25ebd6c10d1af9c05?collections=featured-collections%2C5e72d28669f1f80f4025bcc1
K20 Center. (n.d.). Card sort. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/147
K20 Center. (n.d.). Math interview. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/3296
K20 Center. (n.d.). My favorite mistake. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/115
K20 Center. (2021, March 19). Walking The Line: The Math Spectrum. 5E Lesson. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/lesson/431
K20 Center. (2021, Sep 21). K20 10 minute timer [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gy-1Z2Sa-c&ab_channel=K20Center
NCTM Illuminations. (n.d.). Brain Teasers: Nine Digit Fraction. https://illuminations.nctm.org/BrainTeasers.aspx?id=4714