Growth Mindsets and Fixed Mindsets

Have you ever heard of these terms? They describe how some people can have a 'fixed' mindset about something e.g. maths - you are either born with a 'maths brain' or you aren't. You either have maths ability you don't.

Professors Carol Dweck and Jo Boaler are two leading researchers in this area. They have proven that anyone can learn maths (or any other learning area).

A 'growth' mindset means that you don't get discouraged if you cannot do something - you just cannot do it YET. With hard work and practise you will get there. Maths is like any other skill e.g. like playing a new sport... you have to learn the skills for it and practice, make mistakes and learn from them and keep trying.  You need to have skills of resilience and perseverance.

Talk with your child about the POWER OF YET!

A great video to watch that shows what happens when we learn something new.

Watch this video of Robert Winston. It demonstrates what happens when we learn something new and how we have to practise things over and over, and each time it gets easier and easier until it is a permanent learning 'pathway' in our brain.

Can you think of a time you have learnt something new at school or at home and at the beginning it was really hard but over time it got easier and easier?

What skills did you need to keep going and not give up? Did you need to persevere and stick with it even though it was hard and frustrating. Well done  - you were showing resilience!

How we learn - synapses and neural pathways

Do you know that you can 'grow' your brain?

That's right!  The latest research tells us that the brain is like a muscle - and you can stretch and grow it!  When you brain is challenged e.g. with a difficult maths problem  the brain actually 'grows' because that challenge makes synapses 'fire' and these synapses then cause permanent learning pathways to form. So when we make a mistake this shows us that we are challenging our braining and making things interesting, and along the way we are making synapses fire and our learning stronger!

Ask you child today how they 'grew' their brain. Tell them of a time that you were found something difficult today and grew' your brain.

Maths in action

See Mr Young's maths class doing maths through technology using the Spheros. Addition and Subtraction, Multiplication and Division and Ratios all in the one lesson!