A study of the interrelationships between implicit theories of intelligence and computational thinking in secondary school pupils

Supporting pupils’ resilience in Computing has been a key challenge for teachers since the inclusion of this subject in the National Curriculum of England. A growth mindset theory or implicit theories of intelligence (ITI) is a framework often used in education to understand learner’s responses to difficulties despite conflicting findings produced by ITI research. This project aims to explain how individual computational thinking (CT) and ITI influence each other in Year 8 learners, in order to identify mechanisms that affect achievement.

An original and innovative comparative case studies design, underpinned by a Critical Realist framework, has been used in this research. Data collection involved two stages: first, 18 pupils completed a questionnaire that was analysed along with Computing progress data to select seven participants with differing CT and ITI dimensions; second, the selected pupils were observed working on a programming project and participated in the semi-structured interviews.

A new within-case analysis method - critical realist narrative – has been developed for this study, and revealed that participants’ learning behaviours were inconsistent with their beliefs about ability in Computing and the role of effort in achievement. This suggests that it is likely that in some contexts growth mindset does not make a significant contribution to CT development. Between-case analysis led to the formulation of the explanatory model of CT and ITI interrelations based on the concept of self-regulatory feedback loop.

This study’s explanatory model identifies the mechanisms that might be responsible for the positive and negative effects of CT and ITI structures on each other and highlights the vital role of metacognitive and self-regulatory processes in the CT and ITI interaction. This thesis also demonstrates the potential of Critical Realist methodology in the investigation of interrelations of cognitive and motivational structures in educational context.