Math Libs are an engaging way to help students connect to the math in everyday life. Research shows that the more students feel an emotional connection to what they’re learning, the better the outcomes.
Emotion is essential to learning. According to Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, “It is literally neurobiologically impossible to think deeply about things that you don’t care about.”
Read more:
- To Help Students Learn, Engage the Emotions, (The New York Times, May 4, 2016)
- How to Make Math More Emotionally Engaging for Students, (KQED.org, August 2, 2016)
In addition, positive emotions about math predict subsequent achievement, and positive achievement predicts positive emotions. Similarly, negative emotions about math negatively predict math achievement, and negative achievement predicts negative emotions.
Read more:
- Bored Out of Their Minds, (Winter 2017, Harvard Ed. Magazine, Winter 2017)
We also know that having a positive attitude correlates to activation of the hippocampus and predicts math achievement.
Read more:
- Positive attitude towards math predicts math achievement, (Stanford Medicine News Center, January 24, 2018)
