Welcome to the Digital Epistemologies section! The main focus of this page will be to document and detail the research I am conducting.
Current Driving Question: What influence does a growth mindset towards mathematics have on standardized test performance? A driving question is what drives a project forward. In the classroom, it is the question that challenges students to pursue the content, initiates inquiries, and communicates the purpose of the work. In that frame of mind, I have chosen the above DQ to guide my research progress. To expand, I teach middle school students. I believe this is significant because middle school, for most students, is the first time they have a “math class.” It is their first experience with a class dedicated to math, interacting with a teacher whose primary purpose is mathematics instruction, and being assessed in that space only on math. Sometimes, the enormity of the shift from a multi-subject classroom to a single subject classroom is overlooked by adults who have long since left the struggles of middle school behind. All that to say, middle school is a significant period of time for a student as they develop some serious attitudes and dispositions towards the subject. It is also no secret that mathematics has not been a strong subject for the United States in general for a long time, if ever. Math teachers everywhere lament when they hear adults telling children “Oh, it’s okay. I was awful in math and I turned out great!” The idea of fostering positive mindsets towards mathematics is a crucial one for the modern math teacher. If a productive attitude towards mathematical arts does not come from the classroom, it will almost certainly not come from anywhere else. Enter the growth mindset, a crucial tentpole of PBL and Inquiry Learning. As students dig into the authentic and complex work of projects and inquiry, they need to believe their efforts are worthwhile and will have results. Without that, they will stumble and give up during the messy periods of asking questions, experimenting, and reflecting. One of the main benefits of the growth mindset, from my perspective, is persistence. More and more, students are being asked to think critically, to interpret mathematical results, and apply data to situations. The days of forcing children to memorize formulas and recite times tables are gone. Standardized tests are becoming increasingly difficult, with a higher focus on literacy and problem solving. Employers are looking more and more for employees who can do more than punch numbers and follow formulas. Without persistence in problem solving, creativity in methodology, and careful consideration of real-world prompts, students will fall short on modern metrics of academic success. It is the purpose of this research to explore the relationship, if any, between the growth mindset, specifically towards performance in mathematics, and performance on standardized tests. There are obviously many limitations, particularly between the relationship of standardized test performance and real world success, but this is intended to be a starting point for further thought and investigation. How will this be accomplished? That work is still in progress, but one I am excited to explore. |
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