Sometimes when I tell kids we are going to do Maths or ask children how they feel about themselves as Mathematicians they sometimes look like this.. 

is this you?

What is it about working with numbers that often makes our children feel confused or overwhelmed. I remember loving Maths and enjoying Mathematical challenges, but as the years went on my mindset began to change too and I nearly looked like this poor child by the time High School rolled around. I am trying to work out why.

There has been a lot of interest with educators of late on how our Mindset impacts on the success we experience. Last year our school attended some T and D where we looked at work by Carol Dweck who examined the differences between a Fixed Mindset and a Growth Mindset, you may recall the information sent home.

 

Of course this has implications for all areas of learning, but when beginning our sessions in Mathematics it is important that we have a headset that will grow with an attitude that I can do it.

So it was important that we establish some criteria for working during our lessons. We worked out what we didn’t want to see happen and what we did. This is what we came up with..

 

Alex Narcys our Maths Co-ordinator shared some work by Jo Boaler from Stanford University. We had a look at some of these powerful videos on how our brains work and what goes on when we make mistakes in Maths.

Here is a snippet.

Really powerful, positive and reassuring information on how we can work on building successful Maths Skills. So as we investigate Place Value and big numbers is clear that we need to just have a go at trying to put our understandings through its paces.

Questions to think about.

When do you use maths?

Have you seen your family do any Mathematics?

Why do you think we should learn Maths?

How do you feel about Maths?

What’s your favourite Maths topic?