The video by Jo Boaler is really interesting! She touches on a lot of points on methods to educate students. She proved this by examining and experimenting one-dimensional math vs. the multi-dimensional math. From my experience as a high school student, I think it was a mix of one- and multi-dimensional learning from my teachers. I think as our society is changing and growing rapidly, especially in education field, teachers are trying to find ways to engage with students and have students engage with the subject being taught. I do like the collaboration and debate on subject areas, even now at university, it helps me (and maybe others) to get my brain moving. It's this type of maturation in our critical thinking that helps us with our understanding.
Boaler has also touched on the concept of a growth mindset and a fixed mindset. I completely agree with this thinking. Actually, even now during my undergraduate studies, there are hard math courses that are particularly challenging to me, but for others, it's a piece of cake! I can see by their way of reasoning on questions and their way of grasping a concept so quickly, whereas it would take me a while to finally understand them. Maybe it's because of this sense of "hidden competition" in understanding concepts and finishing our assignments that makes me think I'm just not cut out for this course. I had a fixed mindset back then, and it is not a good thing. It really limited me in being involved with the homework questions (as I would often times delay doing questions or studying for the course), and it made me fear the course even more, knowing that others are way ahead of me.
However, over time, I developed a growth mindset, as discussed by Boaler. With a growth mindset, I would know that I may not be alone in having trouble understanding certain areas, and that it is better to seek help early than later. I had also worked in groups to study for tests or working on assignments together (we would discuss openly about various units). Sometimes, I may think that I really understood things in the course, but upon debating with others, I realized that there was a whole new spectrum of things that I did not know or may not have covered during my studying time! This kind of method of learning really helped me, as well as my group, to gain a better insight on the course.
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