GROWTH MINDSET IN MATHEMATICS (I)

Growth mindset has a special place in mathematics education.  Fostering growth mindset reduces stereotype threat and can help narrow both racial and gender achievement gaps.  For example, recent PLOS ONE article suggests that gender-dependent decisions to drop out of STEM (following a calculus I class) might be dictated by beliefs rather than abilities.  See also this introduction to stereotype threat on dePaul University's Learning in Progress.

In the November issue of Scientific American, Dr. Jo Boaler, Professor of Mathematics Education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, argues that

An emphasis on memorization, rote procedures, and speed impairs learning and achievement in mathematics.  

Dr. Boaler is a cofounder of Youcubed, a company providing large array of growth mindset resources for K-12 teachers - some of them certainly applicable to college-level mathematics.

• Youcubed provides an excellent cycle of mindset-boosting videos in the context of mathematics classroom (we have used some of these videos in our early-alert campaign in calculus).  
• The Teaching Channel provides short descriptions of Youcubed resources including on-line courses. 
• Follow these links to additional resources from Edutopia and Growth Mindset Maths.

The video below is an excerpt of an interview with Carol Dweck and Greg Walton in which they discuss some strategies for and effects of encouraging a growth mindset in learners.

Drs. Carol Dweck and Greg Walton talk about Growth Mindset from Character Lab on Vimeo.