Having a growth mindset is undoubtedly one of the most important ways to increase learning among children. It is vital then to foster a growth mindset while teaching mathematical concepts. A book I’ve been reading in order to hone my teaching is “Mathematical Mindsets” by Jo Boaler which emphasises this message.
One of the key elements of the mathematical mindset teaching approach is using open tasks. These are tasks that can be approached in many different ways. They are tasks that students of all levels can approach, but which can be extended to students with high level thinking.
Many students think about mathematics as a fixed subject with one right answer and one way to get that answer. This is reinforced by a traditional approach in the classroom where the emphasis is about recalling and applying a procedure. This is not very conducive to a growth mindset. On the other hand, if questions are open-ended with opportunities for discussion and to draw on prior knowledge, students see mathematics as a subject they can grow in.
At Astor International School, teachers explicitly teach the growth mindset in Maths. We also emphasise brain science, highlighting the value of mistakes and struggle, and open-ended tasks, which is where learning truly happens.
A question I ask my students often is ‘What do you notice?” When we revise skip counting, I write the first couple of numbers on the board and ask students what they notice. Lots of times, they look at the numbers and make connections they have not made before. They share ideas: “When you count in 5s, you can only end in 5 or 0” or “when you count in 2s, the numbers are all even” or sometimes: “the patterns repeat! It’s always 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 in the one’s place”.
I challenge and stimulate them with further questions to deepen their understanding.
By teaching through open-ended tasks and by explicitly encouraging a growth mindset, Astor International School increases student engagement in mathematics lessons and moulds independent learners who tackle problems with mathematical thinking and reasoning.
Comments