Academic engagement lowered children's fixed mindset in mathematics: A random intercepts cross-lagged panel model with five waves

Abstract

This study used a Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Model (RI-CLPM) and Cross-Lagged Panel Model (CLPM) to examine and compare the temporal associations between fixed mindset and academic engagement in mathematics among elementary school students in China, based on a follow-up survey with five time waves. By disentangling between- and within-person effects, the RI-CLPM fit the data much better than the CLPM. In the between-person effects, fixed mindset was significantly and negatively associated with academic engagement. In the within-person effects, the results showed that students' prior academic engagement lowered later fixed mindset cross all the time waves, but the opposite was not true. We proposed the action-alters-cognition approach based on the findings, and suggested that involving students to engage in learning activities is a more effective way to change their negative beliefs about intelligence.