Math Mindset

One thing that I have always found interesting is the hesitancy many people have to get involved with math, but many people do have "math anxiety"! If you (as an adult) think back to grade school, I'll bet that there's quite a few that would agree with feeling uncomfortable with math as well.

Some students are incredibly hesitant and frustrated with math. They can be fine with language, fine with social studies, etc., but math can be terrifying for a good percentage of kids. I want to put forward that part of the reason could be that they are sometimes used to following the steps to solving a problem without actually understanding what is going on mathematically.

There's a big difference between "doing arithmetic" and "doing mathematics". Compare them as "going through the motions" vs. "understanding what you're doing". When I was in school (and likely you had the same experience), we were taught one way, and repetition and rote memorization of math facts were the way to go. It worked, and I think this way still has a place, but by deepening students' understanding it stays with them, because it makes more sense.

For example, which of these two sets of questions promotes a deeper understanding?


Set 1



Set 2

23 + __ + 1 = 25

__ + 3 + __ = 1

12 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 =


For Set 1, even if you don't 'get' the process of adding up ones and tens, you can line them up and do it because you've seen it done.

For Set 2 however, the learner is given the opportunity to explore different options. If they want to line up the numbers and add, they can do so. If they want to use mental math, they can do that. They can work backwards and find answers through subtraction and they can look for patterns to help them solve the problem. In having those options available to them, students can look at the relationships between the numbers in the sentence to use those skills (addition, subtraction, patterning, etc.) and understand that doing simple addition doesn't exist in a vacuum

Students need to understand what they’re doing. I'll show more examples in posts to come.