Dive Brief:
- Some schools are trying to cultivate more of a growth mindset around math learning in an effort to combat the notion that math ability is a static trait students are either born with or not.
- The shift is based on research that links students’ mindsets to academic success and failure, particularly in mathematics.
- Teachers are experimenting with ways to deconstruct mathematical thinking and problem-solving, from having students pick apart how others solved a problem and having students learn from each others’ errors.
Dive Insight:
As teachers change their instructional strategies, experts say another important shift will have to take place with teachers’ attitudes.
"Teachers love the idea of mindsets as almost a panacea, but they themselves have very fixed ideas of their own learning,” Philip Uri Treisman, the director of the University of Texas' math education-focused Charles A. Dana Center, told Education Week. A study found that teachers that valued multiple strategies for solving problems over speed or memorization were more likely to cultivate a growth mindset in students. That indicates a big shift in teachers’ approaches, with less focus on direct instruction and more on problem-solving and iteration.