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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Educational Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1494702
This article is part of the Research Topic Positive Higher Education: Empowering Students through Learning and Wellbeing View all 5 articles

Cultivating Mathematical Mindset via Online Video Interventions: A Mixed-Methods Investigation in Chinese Higher Education

Provisionally accepted
Xiaoyu Xu Xiaoyu Xu 1*Jaclyn Broadbent Jaclyn Broadbent 2,3Qiaoping Zhang Qiaoping Zhang 4
  • 1 School of Mathematics, Guangdong University of Education, Guangzhou, China
  • 2 Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning, Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria, Australia
  • 3 School of Psychology, Deakin University, Burwood, Australia
  • 4 Department of Mathematics and Information Technology, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Freshmen often encounter significant challenges in adapting to the complexity of university-level mathematics and independent learning. These challenges necessitate the development of strong selfregulated learning (SRL) skills to successfully navigate the demands of higher education. Building on mindset theory, this study explores how mathematical mindset-oriented interventions can support freshmen's mathematics learning during their transition to higher education mathematics, particularly in an online setting. This mixed-methods study involved 306 freshmen, who participated in an online calculus tutorial program, with 118 engaged in the mindset intervention and 188 serving as controls. The intervention significantly altered the students' perceptions of mathematics and improved their SRL strategies.Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, ANOVA, t-tests, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to examine the relationships between mathematical mindset, SRL, and academic achievement. Qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with 18 students were thematically analyzed to provide deeper insights into students' experiences and mindset development. Students with a mathematical mindset demonstrated enhanced SRL strategies and superior mathematical achievement.However, the fact that some students with a fixed mindset also achieved high levels of mathematical success points to the intervention's complex influence on academic confidence and achievement. These findings highlight the need for ongoing research into the mathematical growth mindset at the tertiary level and for adapting educational strategies to the changing dynamics of online education and diverse cultural backgrounds.

    Keywords: mathematical mindset, calculus learning, self-regulated learning, freshmen learning, Online Learning, University

    Received: 11 Sep 2024; Accepted: 02 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Xu, Broadbent and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Xiaoyu Xu, School of Mathematics, Guangdong University of Education, Guangzhou, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.