Math Blog Year 2 Week 4

There have been much new learning in our Math classes this month. All the information on growth
mindset and learning by mistakes has made it clear that as teachers we have a big influence on the
learners in our class. It’s no longer a matter of “teaching” Mathematics with all the rules and methods,
that will hopefully help students understand mathematics. It’s more about providing a learning
environment with rich tasks that gives learners a chance for understanding the math in their way, coming
up with solutions that can vary from others and this allows for brain growth and deeper thinking.

In the Number Flexibility video clip, Jo Boaler talked about one of the reasons for students not doing
well in Mathematics is that they were not introduced to Math in the right way. They are taught a lots of
rules and methods about Math. They think that there is a right/wrong answer, that they need to be fast
with numbers and that there is no opportunity for creativity. Whereas those students who do well are
able to figure things out and have a certain flexibility with numbers. In order to have all learners
achieve some form of number flexibility, it seems to depend on the tasks that they are given. This
certainly doesn’t happen in classrooms that use textbooks for the learning.

The PISA results, based on testing that is done internationally, shows that the countries that scored the
lowest were the ones that math was based on memorization. The countries that scored the highest,
encouraged thinking about big ideas, focussed on what they didn’t know and also how mathematical
concepts are connected through reasoning.  The countries where Growth Mindset is encouraged did
much better on the PISA tests.

Another interesting point that came from the video clips is in preparing students for the workforce,
people who work for High Tech companies, map out pathways where they can collaborate and
communicate. It’s about making connections with each other and their own learning that provides
success. Fortunately, there is a shift in classrooms that is allowing for more of this collaboration and
communication. Those learners who do well in Math see the connections those that don’t see math as
isolated numbers and methods. But yet this is how it looks like in books.

All of this brings forth the dilemma for teachers in providing rich learning tasks that can lead to this
learning. Perhaps many teachers turn to the textbook as the math program, because it is easier. But as
we learned last week in class, the easier solutions don’t lead to learning or brain growth. I want to
make a real effort at providing the learners with a Math program that will enable them to be deep
thinkers with a growth mindset. There are a lot of resources available but it does take a willingness to
want to provide this programming for learners. The articles that were part of our readings for this
week, has a website NRICH, which has a lot of rich tasks that can be used for planning. The article,
“What is a Mathematically Rich Task?” describes rich tasks as a way of allowing the learner to “get
inside” the mathematics. This results in more interesting, engaging and powerful learning. The article
by Jennifer Piggott,  describes what makes a rich task is the environment in which it is presented,
which includes the support and questioning used by teachers. I plan on using these resources in
planning during Practicum.