Growth Mindset Made Easy -Top Tips for Growth Mindset in Mathematics

Growth Mindset is the belief that with the right instruction, practice and effort, anyone can improve their ability. Research shows that students with growth mindsets achieve higher than those with a fixed mindset. When students change their mindset - their achievement changes.

One of the core aspects of growth mindset is brain plasticity (neuroplasticity). This means that the brain can grow and change, and talent is not just for the people who were born with it. Recent neuroscientific studies reveal that the brain doesn’t stop growing at a certain age, and we can learn new things that we might find challenging.

Teachers, parents and students perpetuate several different myths about learning math. One of the most damaging myths is that either you have a ‘maths brain’ or you don’t.

Growth mindset research and neuroscience research (specifically about brain plasticity) challenge this myth.

The findings that come from this research are:

• When teachers believe that everybody’s ability can grow, and they give all students opportunities to achieve at high levels, students achieve at high levels. A teacher’s mindset is critical.
• When students believe that everybody’s ability can grow, their achievement improves significantly. Student mindset matters.
• Ability and intelligence grow with effort and practice. Brain plasticity is now proven.

Top Tips for Creating a Growth Mindset in Math are:

• Examine your own mindset and beliefs about learning.
• Teach explicitly about growth mindset and explain what that means in concrete terms (E.g. There is no such thing as fixed ability, we can look for different paths to a solution, finishing tasks quickly doesn’t make us smarter.)
• Teach explicitly about the brain and how we now know it can grow. Gone are the days of believing you either have a talent for math or not.
• Don’t group abilities in math. Allow kids to work collaboratively.
• Praise the process, not the outcome. Praise the grit and determination of students who don’t give up.
• Normalise mistakes. Resist the urge to console students when they make mistakes. Mistakes are not ‘bad’. Promote mistakes as a natural and necessary part of learning.
• Offer a variety of instructional strategies and activities to maximise interaction with the subject.

Is any of this information new to you? Is there anything about growth mindset that you can reflect on in your own practice? Can you work towards becoming a growth mindset teacher or parent?

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