Every Student is Mathematically Capable — Teachers Can Help Them Believe It

How Authentic Math Tasks Promote a Growth Mindset in Students

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Inspired Ideas

5 min readNov 8, 2023

As an educator, you’ve heard it before: “I’m just not good at math,” or “I’m not a math person.” Perhaps you’ve even felt it in your confidence teaching math when you’re more comfortable with reading, science, and social studies lessons. But the truth is, every student is capable of excelling in mathematics. The evidence is clear that there’s simply no such thing as a math person. But as educators, how can you help students let go of preconceived notions about their abilities and see themselves as doers of mathematics?

Many educational researchers believe the answer lies in a growth mindset. By fostering a growth mindset in math, educators can help students believe that they are — and ultimately, become — capable, enthusiastic, mathematical problem-solvers.

What is a growth mindset?

Identified by Stanford psychologist Dr. Carol Dweck, a growth mindset is the belief that abilities can be improved with effort, as opposed to a fixed mindset, which is the belief that abilities are innate. Researchers from Character Lab, a nonprofit led by grit expert Angela Duckworth, put it this way: “… a growth mindset encourages you to embrace challenges, sustain effort, and try new strategies.”

Why is a growth mindset important in math?

First, a growth mindset is important because it’s effective — in a 2007 study, Dweck and her colleagues found that students with a growth mindset outperformed those with a fixed mindset.

In math, a growth mindset is particularly important because a fixed mindset about math is so pervasive among students. Educator and Reveal Math author Dr. Raj Shah identifies three main reasons why students give up on math: (1) They hold a fixed mindset or a belief that mathematical talent is innate, (2) some degree of failure in math is inevitable for every learner, and (3) school tends to make math boring!

Fostering a growth mindset through activities and instruction that spark curiosity and illustrate relevance can combat all of these obstacles.

California educators: In this paper, Dr. Shah details additional steps outside of developing a growth mindset, such as sparking curiosity and developing grit, that can promote mathematical success in alignment with CA standards.

How can teachers foster a mathematical growth mindset in students?

Here are a few actionable instructional strategies for fostering a mathematical mindset:

Explicitly teach about growth mindset. Research shows that just explaining growth and fixed mindsets to students can help them adopt a growth mindset. Teach them that the brain is like a muscle, made stronger with practice.

Model a growth mindset. Dr. Shah points out that failure is inevitable in math — it’s just part of mathematical thinking. Model a growth mindset by acknowledging the areas in which you can grow while you teach. Failure is OK!

Create opportunities for collaboration. Spark curiosity and empower students to model a growth mindset for each other by creating opportunities for the sharing and exchanging of mathematical ideas. Give students space to reason with and about mathematics by fostering a classroom culture and norms that celebrate failure, expect growth, and use math discourse to understand math as a way of thinking.

Give students authentic tasks. Finally, authentic tasks are the “secret sauce” that positions students to exercise a growth mindset while sparking curiosity and excitement about math, all through the lens of their own experiences. Here’s how they work:

What are authentic tasks in math?

Authentic tasks are math problems placed in a real-world context. Authentic math tasks help students connect math to their own experiences, lives, and individual relationships with math. They can be presented in the form of word problems, sense-making activities, mathematical modeling projects, and more.

How do authentic tasks foster a growth mindset in math?

Authentic tasks help students see the relevance of math in their own lives. They help students frame math through their own experiences and environments, fostering student agency and giving students the confidence to be real-world mathematical problem-solvers.

Authentic tasks should be designed to promote productive struggle, challenging a student right at their zone of proximal development. They should also be inclusive and equitable, reflective of the lived experiences of all students in the classroom. Authentic tasks should ignite curiosity and wonder in math, exciting and motivating students as they recognize themselves and their worlds in the activities.

How are authentic tasks integrated into math curricula?

Authentic tasks are a central component of the Reveal Math and California Reveal Math approaches to fostering a growth mindset and sparking interest in math. Here are a few examples of what authentic tasks look like in the programs:

Sense-making routines called Be Curious and Notice and Wonder © invite students to share their ideas and mathematical thinking by simply noticing and wondering about a mathematical task, rather than immediately trying to solve it.
Ignite! activities apply real-world scenarios to math and encourage productive struggle.
STEM Explorations, which include videos where STEM Career Kids or heroes model STEM jobs that use math and data, as well as digital STEM simulations and mathematical modeling projects, all allow students to apply learning in STEM career contexts. (For California learners, these activities connect to California Environmental Principles!)
Reflect on Your Thinking/Learning prompts help students develop habits of mind and a growth mindset, and explore what math means to them.
Math Is… units establish what it means to be “doers of mathematics. (For California students, these are placed within the context of California Big Ideas for each grade). These units focus on developing strong math identities and habits of mind while encouraging student agency and laying a foundation for a growth mindset. This theme carries through the year with strategies for Understanding Others, Understanding Self, Managing Self, Working Well with Others, and Making Sound Decisions.

Authentic tasks enable students to experience math through meaningful contexts that spark curiosity and instill the habits of mind necessary for deep learning of — and a belief in their ability to do — mathematics in school and their careers.

For an activity you can use in the classroom today to promote student discourse and growth mindset, check out the Mindset Student Discourse Dice: