“Positive brains reap an incredible advantage — raising productivity by 31%, tripling problem-solving ability, improving reasoning and raising intelligence.” states Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage. Using two decades of research, Achor states that our goal as parents and teachers should be focusing on positivity, encouragement and setting goals. By helping students to see positive results (even tiny successes should be celebrated), the overall success and well- being of students is greatly improved!
A Stanford Research study echoes the positivity idea. Scientists have discovered the brain pathway that directly links a positive attitude with achievement.
Researchers studied 240 children ages seven to 10 and found that being positive improved their ability to answer math problems, increased their memories and enhanced their problem-solving abilities.
Let’s pause and think about that….. positive thought improved mathematical ability! We see this in action every day here at Calculating Minds. We work just as much on math confidence as we do on addition, algebra and geometry! And it’s a ‘snowball’ effect… the students start BELIEVING they can succeed so they DO succeed!
The Stanford researchers explain that positivity manifests itself in multiple ways. For instance, if students were positive about math, they tended to have more interest in math and were more likely to practice. “We saw that if you have a strong interest and self-perceived ability in math, it results in enhanced memory and more efficient engagement of the brain’s problem-solving capacities,” state researchers.
A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes.
It is a catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results.
