Motivation
How do mindsets and goals shape maths motivation in lower-stream students?
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
Among lower-stream Singapore students, believing intelligence can grow went with aiming to master maths, which in turn went with more interest and higher test scores, while goals about avoiding failure went with worse outcomes.
Study at a glance
- Design
- Cross-sectional — One-time questionnaire (mindsets, 2x2 achievement goals, intrinsic interest) analysed with confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling, with school maths test scores collected one to two months later.
- N
- N=1201 · 1,201 lower-progress (Normal-stream) students from 17 Singapore secondary schools responded to the survey.
- Population
- Singapore secondary students aged 13-17 in the lower-progress Normal (Academic/Technical) streams
- Outcome
- Self-reported interest in mathematics (Intrinsic Motivation Inventory) and school-based mathematics test score
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Key findings
A growth (incremental) mindset predicted mastery-approach goals, which positively predicted both interest and test scores; a fixed (entity) mindset predicted both performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals. Performance-approach goals were also linked to more interest and higher scores, whereas performance-avoidance goals predicted lower interest and lower scores, and mastery-avoidance goals predicted lower scores but not interest. Unexpectedly, a growth mindset also predicted mastery-avoidance goals. The model explained about 36% of the variance in interest but only about 14% in test scores.
Methodology
A total of 1,201 students in Singapore's lower-progress secondary streams answered a short classroom questionnaire on their beliefs about intelligence (growth vs fixed mindset), four kinds of achievement goals in maths (mastery-approach, mastery-avoidance, performance-approach, performance-avoidance) and their interest in maths. Teachers later supplied each student's school maths test score. A structural equation model tested whether mindsets predicted goals and whether goals predicted interest and scores.
Limitations
The design is cross-sectional and correlational, so it cannot show that mindsets cause goals or that goals cause achievement; the author explicitly says causality cannot be inferred and suggests a mindset-manipulation experiment. Mindsets, goals and interest were all self-reported in one sitting, which can inflate their links. The sample was limited to lower-progress students with no higher-stream comparison group, so the explanation that low perceived competence drives the avoidance-goal links was not directly tested, and results may not generalise beyond this group. The specific path coefficients are given in a figure not included in this text.
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