Growth Mindset in Mathematics

The idea that math educators should focus on effort rather than on results—that failure is part of the success equation, because a set of false starts, failures, and frustrations are often necessary or unavoidable before someone could experience some degree of mathematical progress or achievement.

To fail is no shame, but failure to try again often is. A growth mindset in mathematics is to try or fail again, while failing better or faster each time.

by Numerati December 14, 2024

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Critical Theory of Mathematics

The application of Critical Theory to mathematics—examining how mathematical knowledge is constructed, how it's used, and how it reflects and reinforces power. Critical Theory of Mathematics asks: Is mathematics universal, or is it culturally specific? How has mathematics been used to justify racism (intelligence testing), colonialism (surveying), and exploitation (algorithmic oppression)? Who gets to be a mathematician, and who's excluded? Drawing on ethnomathematics, critical math education, and postcolonial theory, it insists that mathematics is never just numbers—it's a human activity, shaped by history, culture, and power.

"Math is universal, they say. Critical Theory of Mathematics asks: universal for whom? Developed where? The math taught in schools is one tradition among many—and it's been used to measure skulls, justify eugenics, design weapons. Math isn't neutral; it's a tool. Critical theory insists on asking: who uses this tool, and for what?"

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal March 4, 2026

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