Navigating the First Semester: Implicit Beliefs About Intelligence and Effort Beliefs Among Engineering Undergraduates

• In Event: Poster Session 1
  In Poster Session: Motivation in Education SIG Poster Session 1

Abstract

The first semester in undergraduate engineering is a fruitful time period for exploring motivational changes. Data from first-time, full-time engineering undergraduates in two separate cohorts were gathered at Week 1 and 13 of the first semester. On average, students entered and ended the semester with relatively incremental beliefs about intelligence and relatively positive effort beliefs. Incremental beliefs about intelligence did not predict academic achievement, and positive effort beliefs were associated with achievement only in Cohort 1. At Week 1, students perceived intelligence as the primary contributor of high school achievement but anticipated that effort would play a greater role in college. At the completion of the semester, students reflected that the role of effort was lesser than originally anticipated.

Authors

• Kate E. Snyder, University of Louisville

• Sebastian M. Barr, University of Louisville

• Amy R. Heuser, University of Louisville

• Nora Honken, University of Louisville

• Patricia A. Ralston, University of Louisville