Knowledge Bank

It has been suggested that students hold beliefs, both conscious and subconscious, about their ability to learn. One set of beliefs, implicit theories of intelligence, indicates student beliefs about their ability to learn. Students are said to hold an incremental mindset, more commonly known as a growth mindset, when they believe intelligence is malleable. When they believe intelligence is a stable trait, they hold an entity theory, or a fixed mindset (Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Castella, 2015). Another set of beliefs, self-efficacy, indicates student beliefs regarding their ability to complete a task successfully (Zimmerman, 2000). Students with higher self-efficacy are more likely to have greater cognitive engagement when learning (Walker, 2016). Both growth mindset and self-efficacy have been linked to self-regulated learning (Antony, 2016; Yan, 2014). Self-regulated learning is defined as a series of self-determined thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are set in order to reach educational goals (Zimmerman, 2000). Positive links have been found in students who hold growth mindset and use self-regulated learning processes in a meta-analysis that assessed the links between implicit theories and self-regulation (Burnette, 2013).

The sample consisted of students (N = 132) who were enrolled in a three-credit-hour course that focused on motivation and learning strategies. Students were administered a self-reported questionnaire that asked them to rate themselves accordingly regarding beliefs about learning on a Likert scale. These beliefs included self-efficacy for self-regulated learning, growth mindset, and metacognitive learning strategies. Preliminary analyses indicated positive correlations between all three variables, with the strongest link between self-efficacy for self-regulated learning and metacognitive learning strategies. In addition, regression analyses suggested a significant relationship between self-efficacy for self-regulated learning and metacognitive learning strategies (b = .48, p < .001), but no significant relationship between growth mindset and metacognitive strategies. These findings offers support for the connection between students’ self-efficacy for self-regulated learning and their reported use of metacognitive strategies.