Math mistakes are a learning opp!

I already incorporate this idea of "mistakes are a learning opp" into my teaching having read Dweck's book which confirmed my instinct on my teaching style.  This was formed in engineering school in college as mistakes are so prevalent.  You get used to getting low scores and working hard for them.  When the average on a test is an 18 and that is a C you can take the mindset approach although we did not know it was called that and just work harder next time.  It was a bit crazy staying in Electrical Eng as my GPA was a 2.138 but it made me persistence and a good problem solver and it totally helps me to relate to my students!!!
Open and challenging problems are not necessarily the cure-all
You can learn a lot by studying and taking multiple choice tests
especially compare/contrast and also good wrong answers and why they are wrong!!!
Persistence is key -- that is how I got thru engineering school and I share this with many students as it was not easy nor GPA friendly but ppl love to hire engineers b/c we have been trained to be thinkers and persist!!
LOVE some of Prof Dweck's statements like:
"We should make kids feel cheated if the work is too easy for them"
"I can grow my Math brain"
"Math makes you work hard"
"Challenge is the new comfort zone"
but I disagreed with reminding teachers to keep track of progress b/c they probably already do this :)
3.7
Faster is not necessarily better but it sure helps with a lot of things
Obviously Laurent Schwartz did not know his own strengths
It would be great to interview someone who either has had a great experience with Math
and/or "the man/woman on the street" to get away from the academia perspective
Perhaps these interviews are meant to help the viewer feel empathy and connection but what about the student who has studied enough for the GRE to make it into the grad school of their dreams
How can you practice skills and knowledge if tests are too far apart?
Students learn while they take tests
It is not the testing culture -- ppl have felt this way abt Math for generations

How to Learn Math: Schools and Mindset

If schools took on the mindset evidence seriously, what would they need to change?

"Mindset" refers to Carol Dweck's book


Schools would need to change parental attitudes and teacher attitudes and frankly societal attitude.
They can easily and inexpensively do this by listening to self-improvement experts like Jim Rohn, Tony Robbins, Darren Hardy and Robin Sharma.  These MP3s and books can be found at www.success.com
I do not know why the education sector has not embraced these philosophies!
Jim Rohn "The Challenge to Succeed" is the classic and has advice like "If you keep up the repetitive process, you can go from 5 pushups to 50!" and "How many years do you want your kid to be in 4th grade?  about 1!!"  and many many many other gems!!  These CDs help me with teaching but also with the rest of my life in parenting, relationships, fitness and finance.
The Challenge to Succeed CD set by Jim Rohn


I do incorporate these ideas into my teaching in the college classroom but not sure many of my colleagues are thinking about teaching and learning from this perspective.  I emailed our Academic Resource Center and Ed chair about spreading the mindset evidence and self-improvement idea that could change so many lives!


I think there should be a national campaign for adults to improve their cognitive ability.  Patricia Marx just wrote an article in the New Yorker on how she used brain training software which is cutting edge but we can use books from the SAT and especially ACT (since it is Common Core aligned!) and take the tests.  I took the ACT last year at age 48 -- I learned a lot of analytical science skills.  I highly recommend taking these exams as it puts us in the shoes of the student and makes us smarter -- I learned grammar in 2009 when I took the SAT ;)

How to Learn Math Do you think you can get smarter?

Question for students (and parents):
Do you think you can get smarter?

I ask this of my college students and at the end of the semester about 1/2 of them say "yes"
We think IQ is fixed when it is actually malleable.  This attitude may not take a learning disabled student to an Ivy League university just like some people are not likely to play professional basketball. But if you throw 100 free throws every day you will improve and if you do Math every day, you will also improve!

https://class.stanford.edu/courses/Education/EDUC115N/How_to_Learn_Math/about