Growth of fixed mindset from elementary to middle school: Its relationship with trajectories of academic behavior engagement and academic achievement

Unraveling the interplay between math anxiety and math achievement

A robust association exists between math anxiety and math achievement, with higher levels of anxiety correlating with lower achievement. Understanding this relationship is crucial due to the importance of math proficiency at individual and societal levels. In this review, we explore two prominent theories: Reduced Competency Theory, which suggests that initial low math achievement leads to math anxiety, and Processing Efficiency Theory, which suggests that math anxiety impairs performance by diverting cognitive resources. While these theories are supported by empirical evidence, they do not fully explain the mediators linking math anxiety and achievement. We propose 'math avoidance' as a critical mediator, suggesting that avoidance behaviors, formed through conditioning, create a feedback loop that exacerbates math anxiety and reduces proficiency.

The impact of a growth mindset on high school students' learning subjective well-being: the serial mediation role of achievement motivation and grit

Purpose

The learning subjective well-being of high school students has significant value for their academic achievement and future life development. A growth mindset is one of the key factors affecting the learning subjective well-being of high school students. However, research on the mechanism by which a growth mindset affects learning subjective well-being is still relatively limited. Therefore, the study aims to investigate the impact of a growth mindset on the learning subjective well-being of high school students, as well as the role that achievement motivation and grit play as serial mediators in this relationship.

Methods

This study employed a convenience sampling method to select 708 high school students from Chinese public high schools as participants. The research utilized the Growth Mindset Scale, Achievement Motivation Scale, Grit Scale, and the Learning Subjective Well-being Questionnaire for High School Students to collect data. All data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0, employing Model 6 from Hayes' SPSS PROCESS macro to test the serial mediation model.

Results

Our results found that (1) high school students' growth mindset positively predicted their learning subjective well-being. (2) Achievement motivation played a mediating role between a growth mindset and learning subjective well-being among high school students. (3) Grit acted as a mediator between learning subjective well-being and growth mindset among high school students. (4) Achievement motivation and grit served as serial mediators between a growth mindset and learning subjective well-being among high school students.

Conclusion

A growth mindset can influence the learning subjective well-being of high school students through achievement motivation and grit. Educators can enhance the learning subjective well-being of high school students by implementing intervention strategies that foster a growth mindset, achievement motivation, and grit.

Development of associations between elementary school students’ mindsets and attentional neural processing of feedback in an arithmetic task

The aim of this study was to examine the development of the associations between elementary school students’ mindsets and the attentional neural processing of positive and negative feedback in math. For this, we analyzed data collected twice from 100 Finnish elementary school students. During the autumn semesters of their 3rd and 4th grade, the participants’ general intelligence mindset and math ability mindset were measured with a questionnaire, and their brain responses elicited by performance-relevant feedback were recorded during an arithmetic task. We found that students’ fixed mindsets about general intelligence and math ability were associated with greater attention allocated to positive feedback as indicated by a larger P300. These associations were driven by the effects of mindsets on attention allocation to positive feedback in grade 4. Additionally, 4th graders’ more fixed general intelligence mindset was marginally associated with greater attention allocated to negative feedback. In addition, the effects of both mindsets on attention allocation to feedback were marginally stronger when the children were older. The present results, although marginal in the case of negative feedback and mainly driven by effects in grade 4, are possibly a reflection of the greater self-relevance of feedback stimuli for students with a more fixed mindset. It is also possible that these findings reflect the fact that, in evaluative situations, mindset could influence stimulus processing in general. The marginal increase in the effects of mindsets as children mature may reflect the development of coherent mindset meaning systems during elementary school years.