The Relationship Between Changes in Implicit Intelligence Theories and Achievement in Computer Science

Presentation given at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C.

Implicit intelligence theories are related to students’ motivation and achievement, and recent research indicates they may be less stable than previously thought. We investigated how students’ implicit theories changed during a semester as a function of course enrollment and self-regulation profiles and whether implicit theories predicted standardized course grades and knowledge. On average, entity theory (fixed mindset) increased and incremental theory (growth mindset) decreased during the semester; however, students always rated incremental theory higher at both the beginning and end of the semester. The magnitude of beliefs, but not change differed across students’ self-regulation profiles. Beliefs did not differ across classes, but change in entity beliefs did differ. Students’ achievement outcomes were weakly predicted by implicit theories of intelligence.