Dr Jo Boaler | Transforming Mathematics Education Through Mindset-Based Teaching

Mathematics education in the United States has long struggled with issues of underachievement and inequity. Despite decades of reform efforts, many students continue to struggle with math, developing negative attitudes and beliefs about their own mathematical abilities. However, recent research into mindset and brain plasticity offers promising new directions for transforming how mathematics is taught and learned. A groundbreaking study led by Dr Jo Boaler at Stanford University demonstrates how a ‘mathematical mindset’ approach to teaching can dramatically improve student achievement and engagement, even in just a few weeks of instruction.

The Power and Pitfalls of Mindset

The concept of growth mindset, developed by psychologist Carol Dweck, has gained widespread popularity in education circles over the past decade. Research has shown that students who believe intelligence and abilities can be developed through effort and learning (a growth mindset) tend to outperform those who see intelligence as fixed. However, critics have pointed out that simply telling students to adopt a growth mindset without changing teaching practices is ineffective and may even be harmful.

A Novel Approach to Mathematics Teaching

The mathematical mindset teaching approach developed by Dr Jo Boaler at Stanford University in the USA centres on several key principles. At its core are open-ended tasks with low floors and high ceilings, allowing all students to access the math while providing room for challenge and extension. The approach emphasises visual and multidimensional thinking, drawing on neuroscience research about how mathematical ideas are processed in the brain. Students are encouraged to develop multiple solution methods and generate their own strategies, focusing on depth of understanding rather than speed. Explicit growth mindset messaging is integrated into instruction, and mistakes and struggles are valued as opportunities for brain growth.

Putting Theory into Practice

To test the effectiveness of this novel approach, Dr Boaler and her team initially ran a four-week summer mathematics camp for middle school students. Impressively, students improved their performance on a standardised algebra assessment by an average of 50% (equivalent to nearly three years of school-based learning). Additionally, qualitative analyses showed dramatic shifts in students’ attitudes toward math and beliefs about their own potential.

Building on this success, the researchers partnered with 10 school districts across the United States to implement mathematical mindset summer camps taught by local teachers. This allowed them to examine whether the approach could be effectively scaled beyond the original research team. Teachers in participating districts received training through webinars, books, and online resources to learn the mathematical mindset approach. They were then provided with detailed curriculum and lesson plans for either two-week or four-week summer camps.

Measuring Impact Across Multiple Districts

The study employed a mixed-methods approach to evaluate the effectiveness of the mathematical mindset camps across the 10 participating districts. The results were highly encouraging. Students showed significant gains on the MARS tasks, with an average improvement of 0.52 standard deviations (equivalent to 1.6 years of typical school-based growth). Nine out of ten districts saw statistically significant gains, and longer camps tended to produce larger gains, with a moderate positive correlation between instructional hours and effect size.

When students returned to school, camp participants achieved significantly higher math GPAs than similar non-participants (0.16 points higher on a four-point scale). Camp participants were also more likely to receive higher grades and less likely to receive very low grades in math.

Importantly, the positive impacts were seen across demographic subgroups, including students from different racial backgrounds, English language learners, and students who had previously struggled in math. The only exception was that students with special education needs showed even larger gains than their peers.

Transforming Student Experiences

To understand how the mathematical mindset approach impacted students’ experiences with mathematics, the researchers analysed classroom videos and conducted interviews with participating teachers. Several key themes emerged from this analysis. Teachers consistently highlighted how the open nature of tasks allowed multiple entry points and solution strategies, increasing student engagement and confidence. Many teachers shared powerful stories of individual student transformation. They described students who had previously struggled or disliked math becoming excited, confident, and eager to tackle challenging problems. Teachers noted shifts in students’ beliefs about the nature of mathematics and their own capabilities as math learners.

Implications for Mathematics Education

The success of the mathematical mindset approach across multiple districts suggests significant potential for transforming mathematics education more broadly. Key implications include aligning teaching practices with growth mindset principles rather than simply encouraging students to adopt a growth mindset. The study highlights the value of open-ended, conceptually rich tasks that allow for multiple solution strategies and levels of engagement.

There is a clear need to emphasise visual and multidimensional thinking in mathematics, drawing on insights from neuroscience. The power of explicitly valuing struggle, mistakes, and multiple approaches as part of the learning process is also evident. Perhaps most encouragingly, the study demonstrates the potential for significant gains in student achievement and engagement even through relatively short interventions of two to four weeks. The effectiveness of the approach across diverse student populations, including those who have historically struggled with mathematics, is particularly noteworthy.

Transforming Mathematics Education For All

Dr Boaler and her colleagues’ work on mathematical mindset teaching offers a powerful vision for how mathematics education can be transformed to unlock the potential of all students. By integrating insights from psychology, neuroscience, and mathematics education, they have developed an approach that not only boosts achievement but also fundamentally changes how students view mathematics and their own capabilities.

The success of this approach across multiple districts demonstrates that it is possible to scale effective, mindset-based mathematics instruction beyond a single research team or setting. As more educators and policymakers recognise the limitations of traditional mathematics teaching methods, the mathematical mindset approach provides a research-backed alternative that can help all students experience the joy and power of mathematical thinking.

While challenges remain in fully implementing this approach within existing educational structures, the potential benefits are immense. By fostering a growth mindset through carefully designed curricula and pedagogy, we can create mathematics classrooms where struggle is valued, multiple perspectives are celebrated, and all students see themselves as capable mathematicians. In doing so, we may finally address the persistent underachievement and inequity that have long plagued mathematics education in the USA and beyond.