Impacto da capacidade cognitiva e das atribuições causais no rendimento escolar na Matemática

Abstract

The cognitive ability and academic motivation have often been assumed as the most determinant variables of student learning and their school performance. In this study, the operationalization of the cognitive ability through a battery of tests of reasoning and motivation through a scale of causal attributions, allow us analyze the impact of both psychological variables in the student performance in mathematics. The sample consists of all students in the 6th grade at a private school, integrated in public system, in the district of Braga. The results showed that cognitive ability remains on the best predictor of academic performance, and part of students ́ mathematics results variance is related negatively to causal attribution of success to luck. This last aspect shows that students who do not attribute their academic performance to random reasons have, in general, better academic results.