The Myth of the "Math and Science Person"
The Myth of the "Math and Science Person"
Transcript
You'd be surprised how prevalent this idea is. The idea that there are math people, and there are people who just aren't good at math. The myth of the math and science person. The idea that somehow, some students are just good at math and they were born good at math, and some people can never be good at math or other technical courses. Students who think about the math person in this way understand mathematical ability and scientific intuition as an inborn trait, an innate quality, not unlike height or eye color.
And if this is how you think about mathematical talent, you're a person who may find yourself saying, if math is hard for me now, then it will always be hard for me. Math being hard for me is part of who I am. But I have good news. It's just not true. There is absolutely no scientific evidence to suggest that there is such a thing as a math gene, or that there is such a thing as a math person.
Now, yes, some students perform better on math tests than other students. But disparities in performance on math and science tests has nothing to do with intelligence or innate ability. It has to do with the following things. Students who perform better on math tests, like students who perform better on any tests, are often using more effective, more efficient, more quality study strategies to prepare for those courses. They also often times are investing more effort into preparing for those classes. Sometimes they have more experience with a particular kind of technical course. In other words, they've done this before, and so when they go into another technical course, they understand the structure and they understand the expectations. And finally, some students have just had more exposure to math or other technical topics than others.
For example, if you grew up in a home where your parents discussed math, if you grew up in a home with a father who was an accountant or a mother who's a math teacher and you heard those topics being discussed day in and day out, your fluency would be higher because you had more exposure. Here's what's really cool. You have control of a lot of these factors. You have control over the study strategies you use. You have control over the amount of effort you put into preparing for your courses.
And you can take technical courses and get better at them over time. So the idea that somehow your ability to be good at math or your ability to succeed in science is like your height or your eye color, something you can't change, we're here to tell you that you can change it. One of the reasons we know you can change it is because of the work of Carol Dweck, Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. In her book called Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, she delineated between two categories of academic mindset, fixed mindset and growth mindset.
And this is how she explains the difference between the two. "In a fixed mindset students believe their basic abilities, "their intelligence, their talents, are just fixed traits. "They have a certain amount and that's that. "In a growth mindset students understand that their talents "and abilities can be developed through effort, "good teaching, and persistence. "They don't necessarily think everyone's the same "or anyone can be Einstein, "but they believe everyone can get smarter "if they work at it." So fixed mindset means that you think you have a certain amount of talent and that's it, and a growth mindset means that you believe through effort and hard work you can get better at anything.
The message is clear. If you want to get better at technical courses, you need to improve the quality of your studying. Use new strategies, become more efficient and more effective, and constantly reassess your practice to continue to improve. Doing poorly on a math or a science test doesn't mean you're lacking some sort of math or science gene. It means you need to change the way you're approaching the course and your preparation. And that's what we're here to help you to do.
And if this is how you think about mathematical talent, you're a person who may find yourself saying, if math is hard for me now, then it will always be hard for me. Math being hard for me is part of who I am. But I have good news. It's just not true. There is absolutely no scientific evidence to suggest that there is such a thing as a math gene, or that there is such a thing as a math person.
Now, yes, some students perform better on math tests than other students. But disparities in performance on math and science tests has nothing to do with intelligence or innate ability. It has to do with the following things. Students who perform better on math tests, like students who perform better on any tests, are often using more effective, more efficient, more quality study strategies to prepare for those courses. They also often times are investing more effort into preparing for those classes. Sometimes they have more experience with a particular kind of technical course. In other words, they've done this before, and so when they go into another technical course, they understand the structure and they understand the expectations. And finally, some students have just had more exposure to math or other technical topics than others.
For example, if you grew up in a home where your parents discussed math, if you grew up in a home with a father who was an accountant or a mother who's a math teacher and you heard those topics being discussed day in and day out, your fluency would be higher because you had more exposure. Here's what's really cool. You have control of a lot of these factors. You have control over the study strategies you use. You have control over the amount of effort you put into preparing for your courses.
And you can take technical courses and get better at them over time. So the idea that somehow your ability to be good at math or your ability to succeed in science is like your height or your eye color, something you can't change, we're here to tell you that you can change it. One of the reasons we know you can change it is because of the work of Carol Dweck, Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. In her book called Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, she delineated between two categories of academic mindset, fixed mindset and growth mindset.
And this is how she explains the difference between the two. "In a fixed mindset students believe their basic abilities, "their intelligence, their talents, are just fixed traits. "They have a certain amount and that's that. "In a growth mindset students understand that their talents "and abilities can be developed through effort, "good teaching, and persistence. "They don't necessarily think everyone's the same "or anyone can be Einstein, "but they believe everyone can get smarter "if they work at it." So fixed mindset means that you think you have a certain amount of talent and that's it, and a growth mindset means that you believe through effort and hard work you can get better at anything.
The message is clear. If you want to get better at technical courses, you need to improve the quality of your studying. Use new strategies, become more efficient and more effective, and constantly reassess your practice to continue to improve. Doing poorly on a math or a science test doesn't mean you're lacking some sort of math or science gene. It means you need to change the way you're approaching the course and your preparation. And that's what we're here to help you to do.