Math, Mindset & Mistakes Starbooks - April 2016

Agenda:

1. Mindset2. Number Talks3. Mistakes4. Your Role As Parents 5. Questions

Mindset Do you agree or disagree with these statements?

1. Your intelligence is something about you that you can’t change very much.

2. You can learn new things, but you can’t really change how intelligent you are.

3. No matter how much intelligence you have, you can always change it quite a bit.

4. You can always change how intelligent you are.

Fixed Mindset

- belief that intelligence is simply an inborn trait - you have a certain amount, and that’s that.

Growth Mindset

- belief that you can develop your intelligence over time

Electrical activity as students confront an error...

fixed - hardly any activity - don’t engage

growth - engage deeply - brain is “on fire” as they process and learn from the error in order to correct it

The myth of being ‘bad’ at math

- Evidence against this idea is very strong as is research about human brain plasticity

Some examples: - Cameron’s brain - 3 week training - London cab drivers

-Examples like this show that many of the limits we placed on human capacity are self-imposed

Number Talks

96 + 57 = How many different strategies can you use

to solve this equation?

“Number sense is the most important foundation that students can have and

the basis for all higher-level mathematics.”

- Jo Boaler

Making mistakes...

- making mistakes are essential in order to learn- mistakes grow your brain!- mistakes shouldn’t be considered bad - we all make them! - It is important that we see mistakes as what they are -

another chance to learn!

Let’s be clear…

- mistakes aren’t all created equal- in order to learn from our mistakes we need to be

reflective - this will allow us to learn as much as possible from our

mistakes!

What you can do as a parent to support your

child...

Tips for Parents

1. Your abilities are YOUR abilities 2. Homework - stay out if it! 3. Observe ‘real world’ math4. Provide mathematical and puzzle/logic opportunities5. Language - encourage process/journey not product 6. Honour and celebrate mistakes

The bottom line...

STRUGGLE not (initial) SUCCESS is what builds our brains!

Thank you!

Any Questions?