Michael Moore, Ph.D.​

The implicit theory of intelligence, more commonly known as mindset theory, states that people have two basic beliefs about intelligence, either you believe that a person's level of intelligence is fixed and cannot be manipulated or you believe that through effort and hard work you can improve your level of intelligence within reason (Dweck, 2008).

 

While there is a great deal of mindset research in the K-12 literature, very little research has been done in the college realm and even less in STEM. Therefore, the goal of this project is to assess the mindset of students in biology courses throughout the curriculum looking for differences in such categories as class rank, gender, and minority status. It is our hope that this project will help biology instructors better understand the mindsets of their students thereby allowing them to make informed decisions on the most effective types of activities and instruction to use in their classes.