ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Educational Psychology
This article is part of the Research TopicCognitive, Affective, Behavioral and Multidimensional Domain Research in STEM Education: Active Approaches and Methods towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Volume IIView all 3 articles
The Importance of a Mathematical Mindset in Different Academic Disciplines
Provisionally accepted
- 1Guangdong University of Education, Guangzhou, China
- 2Stanford University Graduate School of Education, Stanford, United States
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This study investigates how mathematical mindsets evolve in response to targeted pedagogical intervention, with a particular focus on disciplinary background. Drawing on data from a pre–post experimental design, we analyzed multiple dimensions of students' mathematical mindset and achievement across distinct academic majors, also considering gender. While overall group-level changes were limited, dimension-specific improvements—particularly in attitudes toward mistakes and foundational skills—were observed. Engineering and Technology students consistently outperformed peers in all mindset dimensions, with the most pronounced gains in growth orientation and problem-solving strategies. Gender effects were comparatively minor and often embedded within disciplinary trends. Correlational and regression analyses revealed only a weak and gender-dependent link between mindset and achievement. These findings challenge the assumption of uniform mindset malleability and highlight the need for context-aware, discipline-sensitive interventions. Mathematical mindsets are not monolithic but structured and mediated by educational background, suggesting that future efforts to foster productive mindsets should be differentiated by academic context and target specific belief dimensions.
Keywords: Educational intervention, gender, growth mindset, major, mathematical mindset
Received: 17 Dec 2025; Accepted: 13 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Xu, Boaler and Dieckmann. 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
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