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The Elephant in the Classroom : Helping Children Learn and Love Maths Jo Boaler
Techniques and strategies for teachers to use in interesting their pupils in mathematics.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
58 people are currently reading
465 people want to read
About the author
Jo Boaler
34Ìýbooks180ÌýfollowersDr Jo Boaler is a Professor of Mathematics Education at Stanford University and co-founder of . Formerly the Marie Curie Professor of Mathematics Education for England, a mathematics teacher in London comprehensive schools and a researcher at King's College, London. She is the author of eight books including What's Math Got To Do With It? (2015) and Mathematical Mindsets (2016). She is the recipient of the NCSM award for equity, the author of the first MOOC on mathematics learning for teachers and parents, a White House presenter and an advisor to the PISA team at the OECD.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
July 26, 2016
Made me fall in love with Maths again, and I'm a History Teacher! Raises really improtant and interesting questions and ideas about teaching any subject. Written for specialists and non-specialists in mind, even I could follow it.
July 31, 2017
Fantastic book to read for any teacher or parent, well written and covers many topics currently taught on PGDE courses
October 24, 2012
What's Math Go To Do With It? and The Elephant in the Classroom by Jo Boaler are different versions of the same book. The first focuses on American classrooms, while the second takes a United Kingdom approach. While it's interesting to compare the different examples and approaches, they're basically the same book.[return][return]Boaler does an excellent job exploring the importance of math for today's digital citizens while discussing the need for changes in teaching practices.[return][return]If you're seeking a book that will generate discussion about changes that need to take place in to the math curriculum. This is a great resource to begin reflecting on current practices and exploring new directions.
March 3, 2020
This book is a very interesting read. For teachers, parents or anyone wanting to learn more about the teaching of mathematics and how valuable it really is in education and beyond. There are a wide range of maths problems discussed in this book, with a variety of references to different research, strategies and interesting mathematical questions to use at home or in the classroom. I did notice that parts are often quite repetitive. However, this does help remind the reader of the important connections in mathematics and how the teaching strategies intertwine with how children learn and process mathematics.
Points made in the book that I particularly found interesting:
- Mixed attaining groups and why this is important. However, this would be difficult to implement where the gap between children’s prior attainment is large. I would have valued more examples of how to do this successfully when children are at vastly different levels.
- How traditional teaching of procedures, methods and memorisation are damaging to young children and does not help them learn in comparison to flexible, problem-solving teaching.
- Allowing children to talk in mathematics and explain their ideas to the teacher and their peers supports their learning.
- The importance of manipulatives/resources and diagrams. Research has shown that different areas of the brain are activated when children learn maths visually compared to just number sentences. Therefore, more learning occurs when this is implemented.
- The stereotypes around mathematics for girls and women, and how to steer away from these damaging views and support females through their mathematical journeys.
Points made in the book that I particularly found interesting:
- Mixed attaining groups and why this is important. However, this would be difficult to implement where the gap between children’s prior attainment is large. I would have valued more examples of how to do this successfully when children are at vastly different levels.
- How traditional teaching of procedures, methods and memorisation are damaging to young children and does not help them learn in comparison to flexible, problem-solving teaching.
- Allowing children to talk in mathematics and explain their ideas to the teacher and their peers supports their learning.
- The importance of manipulatives/resources and diagrams. Research has shown that different areas of the brain are activated when children learn maths visually compared to just number sentences. Therefore, more learning occurs when this is implemented.
- The stereotypes around mathematics for girls and women, and how to steer away from these damaging views and support females through their mathematical journeys.
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September 3, 2012I love this book. It is a guiding light. The author's writing and research is very insightful. Every parent of a school-aged child should read this.
December 20, 2016
A book every math teacher should read. It's already changed some of the things I do in my classroom and made me proud and assured of some practices I employed previous to reading it.
September 11, 2020
It's difficult to argue with the thesis of the book that mathematics should be taught in a more holistic way, focused on real-world problems, and helping pupils to make connections and to verbalise their thinking, rather than as a purely formal or rote exercise where pupils don't have any real idea what they're doing. So much so, in fact, that I thought this was a bit of a straw-man argument, as no maths teacher worth their salt would be opposed to such an approach on principle.
I was increasingly frustrated by several aspects of Boaler's argument, which I'll sketch here as others may find it useful. Firstly, her rather cosmopolitan worldview, which she shares, quite ironically, with her bete noire in this book, the former UK Education Secretary Michael Gove. The idea that teaching practices can simply be transplanted from one country (e.g. South Korea, Japan) and used in another (the UK, the USA) absent any discussion of background culture and history of public education in those countries is debatable, to say the least.
Much of the book seems to bemoan the fact that the educational culture in the USA is not what it is Boaler's preferred contexts. That may be true, but, absent a complete shift in social attitudes and educational priorities, it's not at all clear what the point being made here is. It would have been more useful for Boaler to sketch a road-map for piecemeal educational reform, but none appears in the book. Instead all we get is her final cry of "Viva la Revolution!" which, while no doubt tongue-in-cheek, exposes the flaw in her argument.
Secondly, Boaler's approach seemed to be geared towards more extroverted learners. Getting students to talk about their thinking is useful and can help with mathematical cognition. But I was left with a lingering suspicion that students who are more introverted, and just want to be left alone to get on with maths work and figure things out for themselves, would be quickly frustrated with her approach and even come to regard maths classes as a waste of time. For someone apparently sensitive to the plurality of ways of learning, I thought her approach was remarkably 'one size fits all'. There's also a question of how to manage group dynamics in a classroom, which could be very demanding. Boaler touches on this but, again, there isn't much detail.
Thirdly, I thought her remarks on gendered learning were rather odd. She makes the argument that girls seem to be more philosophical than boys, as the former want to understand the conceptual background to maths and stop to ask more profound questions, while the latter just get on with the task at hand. While I found it fairly amusing that, under Boaler's categories, from my own school experience I tended towards the more 'female' end of the spectrum, I think this highlights that if this difference does exist, then it's more of a spectrum than a sharp division. And it's not clear what we should do about it, practically speaking, other than run different maths classes for different genders, which would be hugely problematic for all kinds of social and moral reasons.
Overall, it's an interesting, well-written book and contains a lot of good resources. It could be that some or all of the points I've raised here are dealt with in more detail on her website or in her other research and publications. But the book itself is more a work of advocacy rather than a balanced analysis. While there's nothing wrong with that, it doesn't really consider the broader questions or make any fine-grained policy proposals, and therefore is limited on its own terms.
I was increasingly frustrated by several aspects of Boaler's argument, which I'll sketch here as others may find it useful. Firstly, her rather cosmopolitan worldview, which she shares, quite ironically, with her bete noire in this book, the former UK Education Secretary Michael Gove. The idea that teaching practices can simply be transplanted from one country (e.g. South Korea, Japan) and used in another (the UK, the USA) absent any discussion of background culture and history of public education in those countries is debatable, to say the least.
Much of the book seems to bemoan the fact that the educational culture in the USA is not what it is Boaler's preferred contexts. That may be true, but, absent a complete shift in social attitudes and educational priorities, it's not at all clear what the point being made here is. It would have been more useful for Boaler to sketch a road-map for piecemeal educational reform, but none appears in the book. Instead all we get is her final cry of "Viva la Revolution!" which, while no doubt tongue-in-cheek, exposes the flaw in her argument.
Secondly, Boaler's approach seemed to be geared towards more extroverted learners. Getting students to talk about their thinking is useful and can help with mathematical cognition. But I was left with a lingering suspicion that students who are more introverted, and just want to be left alone to get on with maths work and figure things out for themselves, would be quickly frustrated with her approach and even come to regard maths classes as a waste of time. For someone apparently sensitive to the plurality of ways of learning, I thought her approach was remarkably 'one size fits all'. There's also a question of how to manage group dynamics in a classroom, which could be very demanding. Boaler touches on this but, again, there isn't much detail.
Thirdly, I thought her remarks on gendered learning were rather odd. She makes the argument that girls seem to be more philosophical than boys, as the former want to understand the conceptual background to maths and stop to ask more profound questions, while the latter just get on with the task at hand. While I found it fairly amusing that, under Boaler's categories, from my own school experience I tended towards the more 'female' end of the spectrum, I think this highlights that if this difference does exist, then it's more of a spectrum than a sharp division. And it's not clear what we should do about it, practically speaking, other than run different maths classes for different genders, which would be hugely problematic for all kinds of social and moral reasons.
Overall, it's an interesting, well-written book and contains a lot of good resources. It could be that some or all of the points I've raised here are dealt with in more detail on her website or in her other research and publications. But the book itself is more a work of advocacy rather than a balanced analysis. While there's nothing wrong with that, it doesn't really consider the broader questions or make any fine-grained policy proposals, and therefore is limited on its own terms.
November 24, 2020
Jo Boaler presents a case for ideal mathematics teaching, which would require a complete overhaul of mathematics education in this country. The aim that she aspires to is a maths classroom where students can be creative and engage in what some call 'real mathematics'. Of course if maths were engaging and filled with puzzles where students could discover patterns indepedently then it would be brilliant. Though a large concern is that it would require a complete re-working of maths education starting with government policy and including new assessment methods, more training for teachers and many more large-scale changes.
While this book does present a new ideal maths teaching style it is almost impossible to imagine it coming into effect due to the lack of government support for education.
While this book does present a new ideal maths teaching style it is almost impossible to imagine it coming into effect due to the lack of government support for education.
October 5, 2021
A fascinating and encouraging read. Boaler attempts to change our perceptions of Maths and particularly wants us to reassess how it is taught. Maths is undergoing a revolution and Boaler calls for us to be part of it. Her writing style in The Elephant in the Classroom is very accessible which gives readers the confidence to use some of her tasks and examples with their own children or in the classroom. As an individual who enjoys Maths, but mostly because of the misconception of there always being a right or wrong outcome from calculations, this book allows me to view Maths differently and I can now begin to reconsider how Maths could be taught contrastingly - exploring outside of the traditional realm. I am looking forward to reading Mathematical Mindsets next!
August 15, 2019
This book is incredible!! I was glued to it from the start! It has opened my eyes to the reasons behind why so many people have an inner fear of maths and describe themselves as just not good with numbers. It also explains to me the reasons why I have little confidence in maths and struggle often with real situations even though I left school with an A in Maths GCSE. This book is full of strategies to start a fresh positive outlook regarding maths and support our students today ! I would recommend highly to teachers and parents and anyone who has been bugged by Maths either in a good or bad way!
June 19, 2020
An incredible book that provides huge insight into the classroom, the challenges teachers face, especially in mathematics and key ways of the impact of various scenarios based in extensive research and how to overcome those. Just in the preface you learn that mathematics can be learned to a high level by any child and later on I learned that mathematics underpins creativity and design. So all of those creatives thinking they aren't mathematical, you're wrong, you're just applying it more creatively and vocationally.
August 29, 2021
This book spoke to me because I have a fear of maths, one that was drummed into me since childhood- I am good at English, but not at maths. As someone who is training to be a primary school teacher, I need to get over this fear. This book addresses this issue and understand it, as well as gives useful ways to teach maths to children so that they don't develop the same complex and hatred of the often-doomed subject. Highly recommend and I will definitely be re-reading this many times.
April 10, 2020
A great book about the challenges that children face in learning maths. Chapters on assessment, gender, differentiation and talk amongst others. There are two chapters at the end of the book for parents to help support children in their maths learning. A really eye opening read - some sections totally blew my mind and changed my perspective on teaching maths. Would recommend!
December 5, 2021
This book is brilliant! Such excellent ideas on how to transform our mindsets as parents, teachers and students to enable us to enjoy the language of Maths. It also includes some excellent activities which spark the brain synapses and begin conversations about what is incorrect and correct and why. I love how it pioneers mistake making and the theory about growth mindset.
May 23, 2025
This book does a great job of making you rethink they way Math is taught in a traditional classroom and how detrimental in can be to a students learning.
It argues that mathematical ability is innate, and we as humans are naturally inclined to recognize patterns, instead of the belief that people are simply either “good� or “bad� at math.
It argues that mathematical ability is innate, and we as humans are naturally inclined to recognize patterns, instead of the belief that people are simply either “good� or “bad� at math.
August 22, 2017
This book is fantastic for any teacher or parent that wants to gain insight into raising attainment and interest in mathematics. Boaler provides insight into how mathematics is traditionally taught and outlines her methods and research on what she considers to be the future of mathematics teaching. She also provides lists of many different sources, such as: books, games, websites and apps that are available to engage children. This books aim is to change the perception that mathematics is abstract and boring. I can say that it has achieved that end with me!
March 2, 2020
Really thought provoking and useful in understanding how the love/hate divide in maths arises, as well as offering solutions to put a positive spin for those who don’t feel they “get it�. Excellently written.
August 8, 2020
Jo Boaler’s philosophy in teaching Maths is inspiring and positive. Definitely the way forward. Makes a great case for the constructive approach to teaching Maths and shows the limitations that traditional methods provide. I agree with her sentiment at the end: ‘Viva la Revolution!�
December 22, 2018
One that I will return to through the year.
August 1, 2019
Interesting read.
August 31, 2020
An inspiring read.
October 28, 2020
Jo boaler is brilliant and she's written a very accessible book.
August 28, 2021
I love teaching maths, and this book reinforces my practices and offered some new ideas too!!
April 11, 2023
A great book on how we can support the next generation in flexibly learning the concepts of maths .
June 13, 2023
Place: Southbank Community Library
August 30, 2023
Some interesting things to reflect on for my own maths teaching and that at my school. A little outdated now, I need to find something more up to date to read next.
August 8, 2024
A bit behind the times now
September 2, 2024
Jo speaks the truth and shares so many pieces of advice that resonated.
October 17, 2018
I was rather torn between giving this 5 stars and the 3 that I actually gave it. The thing is that what Boaler writes makes a lot of sense. It seems that if you divide problems into the parts that a computer can do and those which need human insight, for some reason we are teaching children to do the computer parts. I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone teaching mathematics or who wants to help their children with the subject.
Boaler sees this as a manifesto for a new way of teaching maths. If all maths were taught this way then students would do much better. The trouble is that this assumes that you can control teaching in a top-down way, and doesn't take into account the alternative, which I'll call the Inspirational Teacher viewpoint. High achieving people often point to a specific teacher that set them on their way, The thing about teaching is that most of us have been exposed to more than ten thousand hours of it, and so know that most teachers are so-so at best. Boaler quotes research to support the superiority of her methods over traditional ones, but I would note that the it was the teachers who chose to apply the methods, and so are more likely to be of the inspirational sort. In the hands of so-so teachers the new methods can lead to the following problems:
*Mixed ability: Students are given sheets of problems to work through while the teacher's time is taken up with disruptive pupils.
*Taking university maths as an inspiration:
*Asking students to explain their working: Just becomes another drudge ()
*Active learning: Students resort to 'putting on an act' ()I'd note here that Boaler seems ambivalent about the idea of 'performance' In the preface one of the criticisms of traditional teaching is that students 'think they are in maths classrooms to perform', but by page 30 we are encouraged to think that 'Mathematics is a performance'.
Boaler is clearly an inspirational teacher, and doesn't seem to realise that her methods can't be simply transplanted into other teachers. This would be OK if these were new ideas, but there have been arguments over such teaching for over 50 years, and she must have encountered criticisms such as those above, but there is hardly any attempt to deal with them in the book. In the same vein, I couldn't find a discussion forum on her website youcubed.org, which I felt was rather ironic since discussion is promoted as an important part of learning mathematics
Finally, I'd note that at the end of the book the publishers have included adverts for other maths books they publish - but the first two deal with speed mental arithmetic, going totally against the message of the book.
Boaler sees this as a manifesto for a new way of teaching maths. If all maths were taught this way then students would do much better. The trouble is that this assumes that you can control teaching in a top-down way, and doesn't take into account the alternative, which I'll call the Inspirational Teacher viewpoint. High achieving people often point to a specific teacher that set them on their way, The thing about teaching is that most of us have been exposed to more than ten thousand hours of it, and so know that most teachers are so-so at best. Boaler quotes research to support the superiority of her methods over traditional ones, but I would note that the it was the teachers who chose to apply the methods, and so are more likely to be of the inspirational sort. In the hands of so-so teachers the new methods can lead to the following problems:
*Mixed ability: Students are given sheets of problems to work through while the teacher's time is taken up with disruptive pupils.
*Taking university maths as an inspiration:
*Asking students to explain their working: Just becomes another drudge ()
*Active learning: Students resort to 'putting on an act' ()I'd note here that Boaler seems ambivalent about the idea of 'performance' In the preface one of the criticisms of traditional teaching is that students 'think they are in maths classrooms to perform', but by page 30 we are encouraged to think that 'Mathematics is a performance'.
Boaler is clearly an inspirational teacher, and doesn't seem to realise that her methods can't be simply transplanted into other teachers. This would be OK if these were new ideas, but there have been arguments over such teaching for over 50 years, and she must have encountered criticisms such as those above, but there is hardly any attempt to deal with them in the book. In the same vein, I couldn't find a discussion forum on her website youcubed.org, which I felt was rather ironic since discussion is promoted as an important part of learning mathematics
Finally, I'd note that at the end of the book the publishers have included adverts for other maths books they publish - but the first two deal with speed mental arithmetic, going totally against the message of the book.
October 25, 2019
Revolution in learning.
“Mathematics is a performance, a living act, a way of interpreting the world. Imagine music lessons in which students worked through hundreds of hours of sheet music, adjusting the notes on the page, receiving ticks and crosses from the teachers, but never playing the music. Students would not continue with the subject because they would never experience what music was. Yet this is the situation that continues in mathematics classes, seemingly unabated.
Those who use mathematics engage in mathematical performances, they use language in all its forms, in the subtle and precise ways that have been described, in order to do something with mathematics. Students should not just be memorizing past methods; they need to engage, do, act, perform, problem solve, for if they don’t use mathematics as they learn it they will find it very difficult to do so in other situations, including examinations.� p.30
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“Mathematics is a performance, a living act, a way of interpreting the world. Imagine music lessons in which students worked through hundreds of hours of sheet music, adjusting the notes on the page, receiving ticks and crosses from the teachers, but never playing the music. Students would not continue with the subject because they would never experience what music was. Yet this is the situation that continues in mathematics classes, seemingly unabated.
Those who use mathematics engage in mathematical performances, they use language in all its forms, in the subtle and precise ways that have been described, in order to do something with mathematics. Students should not just be memorizing past methods; they need to engage, do, act, perform, problem solve, for if they don’t use mathematics as they learn it they will find it very difficult to do so in other situations, including examinations.� p.30
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