O'Shea, Ann and Cleary, Joan and Breen, Sinead (2010) Exploring the role of confidence, theory of intelligence and goal orientation in determining a student’s persistence on mathematical tasks. Proceedings of the British Congress for Mathematics Education, 30 (1). pp. 151-158.

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Abstract

We consider Dweck's (1986) theory on the relationships between students' beliefs concerning the nature of intelligence, their learning goal orientation, their confidence, and their willingness to seek challenges and to persist when faced with difficulties. Dweck's theories have been studied for the past 20 years, for example by Stipek and Gralinski (1996) among many others. In this study the beliefs and behaviour of 182 third level students were investigated. These students had all chosen to pursue an undergraduate course in a numerate subject. It was found that the relationships between theories of intelligence and goal orientations were more complicated than those postulated by Dweck, and in particular seem to differ between the male and female students. We also found that a student's theory of intelligence, goal orientation, and confidence in his mathematical ability influenced his persistence at difficult mathematical tasks. However, once again, differences were found between the male and female groups.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Confidence; goal orientation; theory of intelligence; persistence;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Science and Engineering > Mathematics and Statistics
Item ID:	4902
Depositing User:	Dr. Ann O'Shea
Date Deposited:	17 Apr 2014 12:30
Journal or Publication Title:	Proceedings of the British Congress for Mathematics Education
Publisher:	BSRLM
Refereed:	No
URI:	http://www.bsrlm.org.uk/
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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