Banish math anxiety and give students of all ages a clear roadmap to success Mathematical Mindsets provides practical strategies and activities to help teachers and parents show all children, even those who are convinced that they are bad at math, that they can enjoy and succeed in math.

Foreword vii Introduction ix CHAPTER 1 The Brain and Mathematics Learning 1 CHAPTER 2 The Power of Mistakes and Struggle 11 CHAPTER 3 The Creativity and Beauty in Mathematics 21 CHAPTER 4 Creating Mathematical Mindsets: The Importance of Flexibility with Numbers 33 CHAPTER 5 Rich Mathematical Tasks 57 CHAPTER 6 Mathematics and the Path to Equity 93 CHAPTER 7 From Tracking to Growth Mindset Grouping 111 CHAPTER 8 Assessment for a Growth Mindset 141 CHAPTER 9 Teaching Mathematics for a Growth Mindset 171 References 209 Appendix A 217 Appendix B 269 About the Author 279 Index 281

PRAISE FOR MATHEMATICAL MINDSETS "Mistakes, struggles, creativity, beauty, flexibility, equity—Jo Boaler uses these words to describe a vision of mathematics where every student thrives and becomes a mathematical thinker. By following Boaler's roadmap, perhaps we can once and for all lay to rest decades of archaic and destructive notions about what it takes to be good at math." —Cathy Seeley, Past President, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and author of Faster Isn't Smarter and Smarter Than We Think "Jo Boaler is justifiably tired of all the uninformed BS about math education. Too many children's lives are being harmed. In this book, she takes the gloves off and comes out fighting. Her weapon? Scientific data. Lots of it. A readable, engaging, compelling case for revolutionizing math education. Ignore her message and you (or your children, or your students) will be locked out of much of the 21st Century." —Dr. Keith Devlin, Stanford University mathematician, NPR "Math Guy," and author of Mathematics Education for a New Era "Jo Boaler calls out the mindsets that can cripple a student's aptitude for math and ways to change them. More than just a replacement set of positive messages, Jo's book elaborates practical, research-tested strategies for teaching, assessment, practice, and homework—all to help a student learn and love to learn mathematics." —Dan Meyer, former math teacher, Chief Academic Officer at Desmos, author, and consultant Scores of students hate and fear math, so they end up leaving school without an understanding of basic mathematical concepts. How can we help all children know that they have vast mathematics potential? How can teachers instruct in a way that brings this belief to life? Drawing on her extensive research with thousands of students, author Jo Boaler reveals how teachers, parents, and other caregivers can transform children's ideas and experiences of math through a positive growth mindset method. Filled with illustrative examples, Mathematical Mindsets is an important guide to the information, techniques, and activities that can be put in place to make math more enjoyable and achievable for all students. Mathematical Mindsets shows how the entire approach to math teaching and learning—from paying attention to the math questions and reviewing the tasks students work on to the methods teachers and parents use to encourage or grade students—needs to be changed to help students realize the joys of learning and understanding math.