The aim of the project was to improve the children’s mindset towards mathematics, with particular focus around problem solving. Through annual maths assessments and classroom observations, our school identified a gap in children’s ability to solve problems in mathematics. We noticed that when it came to maths, there was a general feeling of anxiety amongst the pupils, and it was not a subject that they approached with positivity. We wondered if students doubted their capability when it came to maths and did not believe that they could achieve success. This aligned with the findings from the OECD report, Improving Schools in Scotland, which found that 30% of Scottish learners were nervous when completing maths activities. We therefore set out to understand how pupils from across the school felt about maths and what their mindset was when they began each lesson. We hoped to establish a growth mindset culture across the school and enable the pupils to achieve their fullest potential in mathematics and problem solving.
At the start of the project, the pupils all seemed negative in their attitudes towards maths and problem solving. It was a struggle to get them to engage in the lessons fully and show any positivity. We began by teaching problem solving using interactive lessons and concrete resources. Humphreys and Parker (2015) commented that concrete resources are a key component to allow the children to fully understand maths. This concurred with our experience that concrete resources were very often taken away too quickly and not used in the upper stages at all. The pupils seemed surprised that they weren’t being given a jotter or a worksheet to complete. They had become very used to constant written tasks in maths and receiving ticks or crosses.
Discussion with the children told us that they didn’t like maths because they ‘didn’t want to get things wrong.’ When we gave them whiteboards or got them to act out a problem, they seemed surprised, but often ended the lesson cheering with joy when they had solved the problem correctly and shouting ‘YES! We did it!’ When asked later, they didn’t think they had just taken part in a maths lesson or that they had been learning ‘because it was fun.’ At future problem solving lessons, the pupils were all keen to take part. Very quickly we noticed a slight change in the level of enjoyment and engagement in lessons. As the lessons became trickier, however, we did still meet some resistance to answering the questions and some children were still reluctant to try to solve the problems.
As a result, we started to focus on teaching a specific growth mindset lesson to each class, every week. This soon took hold and filtered into other aspects of their work. By the end of the project, the pupils were supporting their peers when lessons were more challenging, saying ‘You can do it’ and ‘OK, I’ll try my best.’ These phrases were very encouraging and showed that there was beginning to be a change to their mindsets.
By the end of the project, we saw much more engagement within the problem solving lessons and the pupils seeming more positive. There were smiles on their faces, lots of active discussions with peers and many more pupils willing to volunteer answers and their solutions, than there had been at the start of the project.
We were able to stay within the timelines outlined for the project. We had planned to start after the October break and began during the second week back. This coincided with a change of role for the class teacher, to a non-class contact teacher for the whole school. This enabled a focus on problem solving and growth mindset for every class and allowed us to see the positive impact the lessons were having across the whole school. Completing the project just before the Christmas break was enough to see the positive impact, and to decide to continue the lessons afterwards. Growth mindset is something that is now well known by all pupils and will continue to be embedded in our daily practice.
Originally the project was to focus on a primary 4 class, where there was the highest level of disengagement with maths and the lowest self-esteem. These findings were based on an initial survey completed with every class. As lessons began across the school, however, we realised that every class had pupils who would benefit by being included. This was also reflected in the standardised maths assessments that had just been completed. As such, we decided to implement the lessons with every class and use a focus group of pupils from each class to evaluate the project at the end.
At the beginning of the project, the general attitude of the school when it came to maths and problem solving was that of anxiety, nervousness, negativity, and a lack of enjoyment. Quotes from pupils, taken in October, showed this: “scared in case I don’t get the sums right”, “it’s hard and I don’t like it”, “I’m scared that I get it all wrong”, “problem solving is hard”, “I’m worried I’ll get all the answers wrong.” By the end of the project, when asked how they felt again about maths and problem solving, the pupils then said things like: “I feel it’s a challenge but I like it”, “I feel a bit challenged because I don’t know everything about maths yet but I will try and learn it” and “I feel better about it but it’s still a bit of a challenge.” This was incredibly encouraging to hear and showed that the project was so worthwhile.
We then began teaching the problem solving focused lessons using lots of interactive and digital resources. The pupils used whiteboards to make notes or to discuss ideas with their partner. They also used concrete resources to help them solve problems. Alongside these lessons, we taught specific growth mindset lesson to each class, every week. These lessons looked at the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset, allowed the children to determine what their mindset was and made them more familiar with growth mindset terminology and how they could apply it to their own learning. This began to filter through to their problem solving lessons and the pupils were regularly overheard using growth mindset language. When pupils said, ‘I can’t do that,’ another pupil would regularly shout from across the class, ‘Yes you can! You just need to try!’ The pupil who was initially unsure then tended to agree and continued to try their best to complete the task. This was proof that the lessons were having the desired effect and a positive impact on the learning in each class.
Overall, there was a big change in the children’s attitude towards maths and problem solving by the end of the project. The pupils were much happier and positive towards the lessons and regularly had smiles on their faces. They also seemed much more animated when solving problems and were very keen to share their ideas with their peers, rather than letting others answer for them.
At the beginning of the project, we completed a survey about feelings towards maths with the pupils and found that over 40% of the pupils agreed with the statement “There are some tasks that no matter how hard I try I will never improve”. We wanted pupils to instead feel that their hard work would be for a reason and would be worthwhile. We then began to implement the project and asked the pupils about their feelings towards maths and problem solving.
As the project concluded, we asked the focus group questions about how they were then feeling about maths and growth mindset. Every pupil asked, agreed that they were now more confident when taking part in problem solving lessons, than they were at the beginning. This was a positive outcome for the project. Every pupil also agreed that they now have much more enjoyment when taking part in problem solving lessons. This is vital if children are not to be put off by maths and can tackle every lesson with a growth mindset. Indeed, when all pupils in the focus group were asked about growth mindset, they all agreed that they now have more of a growth mindset and can use it to help them tackle new challenges. This will be crucial to their future lives and represents another great outcome of the project.
Evidence from the survey conducted after the project, shows the impact of the project:
The wall display showing growth mindset work across all classes is shown below:
Colleagues from across the school have spoken about the positive impact that the project has had within their classes. They think that the pupils are a lot more confident in themselves when it comes to problem solving and enjoy the lessons. Colleagues have also commented about the increase in general positivity in their classes when it comes to learning something new. They are pleased to hear positive comments being spoken in their classes, when some children are finding something difficult, and their peers give them words of encouragement. Some colleagues noted that their pupils did have an element of growth mindset before the project. However, they have still noticed further improvements with pupils across the school now able to instantly explain the difference between a fixed and growth mindset, along with applying it to their tasks more readily.
This project is one that will continue across every class in the school, following the great benefits and positive impacts witnessed. Senior management are keen to see what further improvements can be attained. During classes, we will continue to teach specific growth mindset lessons, to further develop the children’s awareness and understanding of how they can apply it to their learning and lives. We now have a whole school growth mindset wall in a central corridor that every pupil sees each day, featuring work from every class. We will continue to build on this display, adding to it regularly to continually remind the children of the benefits of a growth mindset.