Explore the impact of mindset on learning math with Dr. Jo Boaler. Challenge gender biases in math education and promote inclusivity. Redefine intelligence beyond math skills. Navigate resistance in educational reform. Empower students and promote a positive approach to math learning with the Struggly app. Address challenges in promoting inclusive education and changing math content.
Negative beliefs hinder mathematical brain function by influencing confidence and knowledge.
Embracing struggle and mistakes fosters brain connections, growth, and promotes a diverse approach to mathematics.
Deep dives
The Impact of Beliefs on Mathematical Ability
Beliefs about math are housed in the hippocampus, influencing one's mathematical confidence and intersecting with their knowledge. If negative beliefs persist, they hinder mathematical brain function continuously. Joe highlights the significance of what individuals believe affecting brain operation in every moment.
Challenges in Making Math Inclusive
Joe Boller's efforts focus on making math education accessible to all, emphasizing inclusivity. However, in achieving this goal, she encounters academic bullying, online harassment, and even death threats, showcasing the obstacles faced when trying to expand math education for everyone.
The Gender Disparity in Math Education
Math education often presents a masculine, rigid approach focused on right and wrong answers, discouraging many girls who seek deeper connections and understanding. The lack of offering a conceptual understanding leads to girls feeling disconnected from math, perpetuating the gender disparity in mathematical aptitude.
Encouraging Growth Mindset in Math Education
Joe Boller emphasizes the importance of embracing struggle and mistakes in math, fostering brain connections and growth. Promoting a growth mindset and approaching math through various dimensions can enhance brain function and learning, dispelling myths around innate math abilities and advocating for a diverse approach to mathematics.
In Vanessa's masters thesis titled "Imagining a World Where Paris Hilton Loves Math", there was nobody quoted more frequently than today's guest, Stanford professor Dr. Jo Boaler. On the season 5 finale of Math Therapy, Vanessa sits down with her math ed hero to discuss how limiting beliefs vs a growth mindset impact the brain, how struggle and mistake-making benefit learning, and the extremely personal resistance she's faced in a career dedicated to making math more equitable and accessible.
About Jo: (Website, Twitter) Stanford Professor Dr Jo Boaler is author of 18 books, numerous articles, and a White House presenter on women and girls. Her latest book is called: Limitless Mind: Learn, Lead and Live without Barriers. She co-founded www.youcubed.org, is currently one of the writing team creating a new Mathematics Framework for the state of California, co-leading a K-12 Data Science Initiative and was named as one of the 8 educators “changing the face of education” by the BBC.