Why are some students better at math than others? With our growth mindset attitude, we know that anyone can be a “math person,” but how?
Studies show that people are born with an innate number sense, but some students are further down the path of mathematical thinking than others when they come to our classroom. Maybe mathematical behaviors were modeled at home for some students. Maybe some students’ brains were more hard-wired to seek and find patterns. Regardless of what came before, if we want to grow all students into mathematical thinkers, we need to teach them specific math behaviors.
I am fascinated by how children see math and work with numbers. Children use a variety of strategies and tools, but their math behaviors should be the same. As teachers, we can make these behaviors explicit so that all students can be successful. Some students already practice these behaviors without even knowing it. By making the behaviors known, these students will become stronger mathematicians as well. Here are 6 Mathematical Behaviors to teach students and make known!
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Math Behavior No. 1: Listen and Learn
Good mathematicians listen with openness and curiosity as they learn from others.
Math Behavior No. 2: Discover Patterns
Good mathematicians seek and explore patterns because they know that math is the science of patterns.
Math Behavior No. 3: Notice and Wonder
Good mathematicians notice the math around them and wonder about what they see.
Math Behavior No. 4: Attend to Precision
Good mathematicians attend to precision and know that accuracy is more important than speed.
Math Behavior No. 5: Make Conjectures and Prove
Good mathematicians make conjectures or opinions on what they are noticing and then work to prove if their conjecture is correct or incorrect.
Math Behavior No. 6: Tell the Story
Good mathematicians work through word problems by telling the story of the math problem.
We can design lessons to teach students these six mathematical behaviors, but it is important to remember we need to model and reinforce these mathematical behaviors every day as we create lesson plans and instruct students in our math lessons. Once the behaviors are taught, students should reflect on the behaviors they exhibited daily.
If we teach these behaviors to our students so that they exhibit these mathematical behaviors each day, every student can be a “math person!”
