Dear Colleagues, Friends, & Supporters,
Many (most?) people believe that they are just not "math people," that they can never learn mathematics and that making mistakes is a really bad thing. Large segments of our society have internalized this view. They do currently not have agency or access to mathematics and its (implied) advantages. Given the role of mathematics as the gatekeeper for much of science, technology and engineering, this exacerbates inequality in our country.
Changing the mindset of our students, helping them understand how our brains work, how we actually learn is incredibly important for any mathematics class, from Kindergarten through graduate school. We are using this month's blog to summarize some of the resources around mindset and brains science that we find helpful, including the AMS blog "On Teaching and Learning Mathematics" and Jo Boaler's YouCubed website.
Sincerely,
Julian Fleron, Phil Hotchkiss, Volker Ecke, & Christine von Renesse.
