How can we motivate students who are unmotivated possibly due to previous deficiencies in math?

Students who are unmotivated in math have likely had past experiences in math that are not the best. One of the approaches I’ve found that can help is to ask students to fill out a math autobiography to tell me about their prior experience with the subject and their background. This simple exercise acknowledges that students may have a phobia — or pile of unpleasant experiences — with math, and allows them to express their feelings, frustrations, and anxieties. I collect this information at the beginning of the year, on an index card, and include questions such as: “What words come to mind when you think about math?” and “What has worked for you when learning new math concepts in the past, and what does not?” This exercise not only helps me to identify unmotivated students, but, even more importantly, it also starts to build a relationship between me and my students. If you haven’t built  a relationship, chances are students won’t be eager to engage in your class.

Another tactic I use is finding an area or topic students genuinely find interesting. I’ve worked with middle school students and built materials around topics like music or sports to engage student interest, making sure the topic is gender-encouraging. For example, with sports, while I’ve worked with the usual baseball statistics, I also ask about marathons, skiing, or swimming records where there are examples of successful women. In addition, I’ve taught from questions that the students came up with. For example: “How many gallons of ketchup are used on hot dogs during the regular baseball season at Fenway Park?” I’ve also asked students to bring in a question they would like to explore that they have seen on social media. It becomes both a literary and math exercise, and builds authentic interest in the class material.

Finally, I draw upon the work of Professor Carol Dweck from Stanford around a “growth mindset,” the idea that we can grow our brain’s capacity to learn and to solve problems. Professor Dweck’s doctoral student, David Yeager from the University of Texas at Austin, is another heavy hitter in the field who has conducted extensive research on motivation. Dweck and Yeager have researched how important it is for both kids and adults to have a growth mindset. If you have a “fixed mindset” about math, thinking “I can’t do this, I only have a limited amount of ability in math,” you will give up before you even start. But a growth mindset means understanding that the brain is a muscle and it can grow and learn new things — things that it couldn’t do before — including how to solve new math problems.