Misunderstood: I’m Just Not a Math Person

A response to the Misunderstood Activity
created by Alexandra Hudyma (@akhudyma)

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One of the most commonly misunderstood concepts in the field of Mathematics is that there are people who are good at math and people who are bad at math, and you cannot change which group you belong to.

An analogy I like to give is that math is a skill that you learn with practice, like any other. In fact, it is similar to a language in it’s structure. The symbols written in equations are just instructions for us to interpret, similar to how the letters and symbols we use to write in the English language are instructions that tell us how to read or pronounce something, and what it means. Yet, you don’t hear people saying that they are bad at English, and cannot change that fact because they’re “just not an English person.”

Math is a skill to be learned, no different from learning how to play guitar, ride a bike, or use a computer. Instead of having the fixed mindset of “I’m not good at math and never will be”, I encourage students to adapt a growth mindset: “I don’t understand this concept right now, but I can and will learn it through explanation and practice”. Much like other skills, you cannot learn it without doing. You cannot expect to be good at playing the piano if you’ve never spent any time practicing. Keeping the open mindset of “I can learn this if I practice” is one of the most valuable tools a student can use when breaking this misconception.