Volume 15, Number 2

Mindful Math: The Method, How to Use It and How It Works

  Authors

Larisa Lisichkina, Independent Researcher, Russia

  Abstract

Traditional mathematics education, based on standard textbooks, does not align with the humanistic values of the 21st century and fails to take into account the individual cognitive characteristics of learners. Strictly speaking, the traditional method of teaching math is not a technology and, consequently, cannot be fundamentally improved. This article presents the flow-based Mindful Math technology, which offers principles and tools for creating individual learning pathways for each student within the classroom setting through asynchronous learning. The key outcomes of this technology, confirmed by a 15-year longitudinal action research study, include a more stable and effective learning environment, as well as the ability to determine the statistical characteristics of the learning process. Mindful Math technology has been designed with scalability in mind and can be useful in situations of social crisis (war, epidemics, emigration, lack of accessible education); it can also be effectively transferred to a digital environment as an open-source platform and, potentially, adapted for teaching other subjects.

  Keywords

Mathematics Education, Education Technology, Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), AsynchronousLearning, Curriculum Compression, Mastery Learning, Adaptive Learning Systems, Cognitive Load Optimization