Fixed Mindset

A motto recently popped into my head reminding me, “when in doubt, draw it out”. To be concise, the message is whenever we are faced with an unknown, you can always roll up your sleeves a draw out all the ways you can solve what is in front of you. This motto reflects a growth mindset that I have adopted yet I am able to sift through memories and identify places where I demonstrated a fixed mindset. If more students learned of disequilibrium and the difference between a growth and fixed mindset, perhaps there would be less overall fear of mathematics.

I attended elementary school in Holyoke, Massachusetts and if you know anything about the district you would know the environment is inclined to behavior management rather than learning. After elementary school I attended middle and high school in the Easthampton district. Over there students were farther ahead in the curriculum than I was because the culture in Easthampton is calm and relaxed therefore allowing additional time for academics. I do have memories of fifth and sixth grade just being frustrated because I had this harmful idea which reminded me I could never keep up with my classmates. As a result, I did not attempt to apply myself in math for a couple of years and developed a fixed mindset.

In short it describes how all students of varying preparedness enter a classroom. The students who are more prepared earn higher grades and gain confidence in the course. Whereas the students who are less prepared will on average receive lower scores and convince themselves they do not have the ability to perform mathematically. As a victim of the fixed mindset, I can confirm this was my initial experience with math as I entered a classroom more prepared than I was. What is interesting is my professor introduced the growth mindset to me without providing the official title of this