Group Members: Hadassah, Leah, Maya F

PART 1: RESEARCH - Your group will research information regarding brain science, math
dispositions, and/or possible “solutions” to reversing math mindset pollution.

Possible questions to consider in researching:

● Why is it important to learn math?

● How does your mindset affect your approach to learning?
● How do others talk about math? How does that affect us?
● How does media (TV, movies, social media, music, etc) influence our thinking about
math?
● Are you born “smart” or not? (brain science)
● How do demographics play a role in math mindsets?
● CREATE YOUR OWN

Potential Sources:
Khan Academy - Growth Mindset

YouCubed - Unlocking Children’s Math Potential

YouCubed - Brain Science

TedTalk - The power of believing that you can improve

Mindset Works

Everyone Can Learn Mathematics to High Levels: The Evidence from Neuroscience

FIND YOUR OWN SOURCE

Research Findings

Source 1:YouCubed - Brain Science

Maya Fulton
Brain plasticity, also known as neuroplasticity, is the brain's remarkable ability to adapt,
rewire, and strengthen its neural connections. When someone studies for an exam and gains
new knowledge, their brain forms new neural pathways, enhancing its capacity. While some
information may fade over time, if not reinforced, the brain keeps the potential for ongoing
growth and adaptation throughout life.

Source 2: Mindset Works

Hadassah Avila
It highlights the roles of a fixed vs. growth mindset and how it directly affects your
performance while doing math.
1) When students have a growth mindset, they take on challenges and learn from them,
therefore increasing their abilities and achievement.
2) A person’s mindset sets the stage for either performance goals or learning goals.
3) The fixed vs. growth mindset shows how cognitive, affective, and behavioral features
are linked to one’s beliefs about the malleability of their intelligence.
The goal is to have a growth mindset.

Source 3: Everyone Can Learn Mathematics to High Levels: The Evidence from Neuroscience

Leah Vickery
Shows three of the most important areas of neuroscience that directly apply to the teaching
and learning of mathematics.
1. Our brains have enormous capacity to grow and change at any stage of life.
2. Brains grow when struggling, our hippocampus grows and makes new paths when we
are faced with a challenge.
3. When we work on a mathematics problem, five different pathways in the brain are
involved.
We should all stop using fixed ability language.

Data Drop:

Include AT LEAST 1 data visual (graphs, tables, charts, etc) you found during your research
related to math mindsets and/or how to learn:
PART 2: SURVEY QUESTION CREATION- Your group will create survey questions for our data
collection.

We are co-creating one survey to collect data about people’s dispositions towards math and
their general mindsets. You responded to this survey on the first day of How to Learn Math.

Your task as a group is to come up with 2 to 3 statements for our survey that can be responded
to on a scale of strongly disagree to strongly agree.

Disagree to Agree Survey Statements

These statements should be related to beliefs, mindsets, experiences, strategies, etc regarding
math and how we learn.

Statement 1: Every new experience changes your capabilities.

Statement 2: I like my work best when I can do it really well without being challenged.

Statement 3: Do you think our brains can grow and change at any stage of life?
Score Rubric

10 3 sources related to math mindsets and/or how we learn were researched

and summarized with 5 sentences each
1+ source was outsourced (found on your own)
1+ data visual was included
3 statements were created for our survey that can be responded to on an
agree/disagree scale related to math beliefs, mindsets, experiences,
strategies, etc.

9 2 sources related to math mindsets and/or how we learn were researched

and summarized with 3-5 sentences each
1 data visual was included
3 statements were created for our survey that can be responded to on an
agree/disagree scale related to math beliefs, mindsets, experiences,
strategies, etc.

8 2 sources somewhat related to math mindsets and/or how we learn were

researched and summarized with 2-3 sentences each
Data visual missing
2 statements were created for our survey that can be responded to on an
agree/disagree scale related to math beliefs, mindsets, experiences,
strategies, etc.

7 1-2 sources slightly related to math mindsets and/or how we learn were
researched and summarized with less than 3 sentences each
Data visual missing
1-2 statements were created for our survey that were off topic or could not
be responded to on an agree/disagree scale