Engage students in mathematics using growth mindset techniquesThe most challenging parts of teaching mathematics are engaging students and helping them understand the connections between mathematics concepts. In this volume, you'll find a collection of low floor, high ceiling tasks that will help you do just that, by looking at the big ideas at the fifth-grade level through visualization, play, and investigation.During their work with tens of thousands of teachers, authors Jo Boaler, Jen Munson, and Cathy Williams heard the same message--that they want to incorporate more brain science into their math instruction, but they need guidance in the techniques that work best to get across the concepts they needed to teach. So the authors designed Mindset Mathematics around the principle of active student engagement, with tasks that reflect the latest brain science on learning. Open, creative, and visual mathematics tasks have been shown to improve student test scores, and more importantly change their relationship with mathematics and start believing in their own potential. The tasks in Mindset Mathematics reflect the lessons from brain science that:* There is no such thing as a math person - anyone can learn mathematics to high levels.* Mistakes, struggle and challenge are the most important times for brain growth.* Speed is unimportant in mathematics.* Mathematics is a visual and beautiful subject, and our brains want to think visually about mathematics.With engaging questions, open-ended tasks, and four-color visuals that will help kids get excited about mathematics, Mindset Mathematics is organized around nine big ideas which emphasize the connections within the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and can be used with any current curriculum.

Introduction 1Low-Floor, High-Ceiling Tasks 2Youcubed Summer Camp 3Memorization versus Conceptual Engagement 4Mathematical Thinking, Reasoning, and Convincing 5Big Ideas 9Structure of the Book 10Activities for Building Norms 17Encouraging Good Group Work 17Paper Folding: Learning to Reason, Convince, and Be a Skeptic 21Big Idea 1: Thinking in Cubes 23Visualize: Solids, Inside and Out 25Play: City of Cubes 33Investigate: A Box of Boxes 44Big Idea 2: Estimating with Fractions 53Visualize: Making Snowflakes 55Play: Fraction Blizzard 61Investigate: Wondering with Fractions 67Big Idea 3: Using Fraction Equivalence 81Visualize: Picking Paintings Apart 83Play: Make a Fake 94Investigate: Squares with a Difference 101Big Idea 4: Exploring the Coordinate Plane 115Visualize: Getting around the Plane 118Play: Ship Shape 124Investigate: Table Patterns 133Big Idea 5: Seeing and Connecting Patterns across Representations 143Visualize: Two-Pattern Tango 145Play: Pattern Carnival 153Investigate: Seeing Growth on a Graph 159Big Idea 6: Understanding Fraction Multiplication Visually 169Visualize: Fractions in a Pan 172Play: Pieces and Parts 180Investigate: The Sum of the Parts 187Big Idea 7: What Does It Mean to Divide Fractions? 199Visualize: Creating Cards 201Play: Cuisenaire Trains 209Investigate: Fraction Division Conundrum 217Big Idea 8: Thinking in Powers of 10 223Visualize: The Unit You 225Play: Filling Small and Large 233Investigate: Museum of the Very Large and Small 239Big Idea 9: Using Numbers and Symbols Flexibly 247Visualize: Seeing Expressions 250Play: Inside Pascal's Triangle 261Investigate: The 1492 Problem 268Appendix 279Centimeter Dot Paper 280Isometric Dot Paper 281About the Authors 283Acknowledgments 285Index 287