A quantitative study of the relationship between mindset and academic performance in firstyear mathematics courses at the University of Cape Town

Despite attempts to decrease university drop-out rates, the graduation rate remains low both internationally and locally. Internationally, up to 40% of students who enter higher education do not graduate; in South Africa, the number is higher at 55%. Several studies have found that growth mindset interventions help improve performance in mathematics and language courses. However, most of these studies are carried out outside of South Africa and on children and adolescents. Very little is known about whether and how the growth mindset theory can help improve performance in first-year university courses in South Africa. In this study, the correlation between mindset and performance in first-year mathematics courses is investigated. First-year science, commerce, and engineering students (N=745) enrolled in four different introductory calculus courses participated in this study. Their mindsets were assessed using a survey questionnaire known as the Mindset Assessment Profile (MAP) tool. The reliability of the Mindset Assessment Profile was assessed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. This was followed by a comparison of mindset scores of students enrolled in different degree programs. Moreover, the participants' average mindset scores in the current study were compared with international mindset scores. The participants' mathematics grades were collected for different assessments during the academic year. The changes in mathematics grades were compared with the mindset scores to examine the relationship between the two variables. The mathematics grade changes were used instead of the grades themselves; this is because the aim was to measure the improvement in mathematics grades rather than the final grade. In the face of failure, students with a growth mindset are predicted to put more effort and seek feedback to improve their grades in subsequent assessments. On average, the participants of this study were growth mindset oriented according to the Mindset Assessment Profile tool. The MAP was moderately reliable, with Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranging between 0.501 and 0.642. Item-by-item analysis showed that reliability could not be improved by the removal of any item in the Mindset Assessment Profile. There was a significant difference between the mindset scores of commerce students and the mindset scores of science and engineering students. Students enrolled in commerce degree programs scored significantly lower than students enrolled in science and engineering degree programs on the MAP. The University of Cape Town students scored higher than Hong Kong university students on the mindset scale but lower than the students in the US. There was no statistically significant correlation between mindset scores and academic performance in any of the degree programs. The correlations were assessed for (a) all the students, (b) students who failed their first mathematics test, and (c) students who scored 75% and above for their first mathematics test. The findings of this study provide a baseline of mindset scores for a South African university population. The tool for measuring mindset may need to be adapted to be better suited for the population outside of the United States. Furthermore, future research should investigate the effects of a growth mindset intervention on academic performance in mathematics grades at the University of Cape Town