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
