Motivation, study habits -- not IQ -- determine growth in math achievement
Thursday, December 20, 2012 - 10:30
in Psychology & Sociology
It's not how smart students are but how motivated they are and how they study that determines their growth in math achievement. That's the main finding of a study that looks at six annual waves of data from a German longitudinal study assessing math ability in 3,520 students in grades five to 10. Students who felt competent; were intrinsically motivated; and avoided rote learning showed more growth in math achievement than those who didn't.