Investiagation of primary school teachers perceptions of intelligence in the context of mindset theory

The aim of this study is to determine primary school teachers' perceptions of intelligence. Descriptive method was used in this study. Both quantitative and qualitative data were utilized in order to reflect the current situation in more depth. The population of the study consists of primary school teachers working in Çermik district of Diyarbakır province in the 2023-2024 academic year. The "Mindset Scale" developed by Dweck (2013) and adapted to Turkish culture by İlhan Beyaztaş and Hymer (2018) was used as a data collection tool for quantitative data. For qualitative data, a semi-structured interview form was used. Quantitative data were applied to 197 teachers and qualitative data were applied to 10 teachers who were determined according to their gender and perceptions of the mindset of primary school teachers as a result of quantitative data analysis. The quantitative data obtained within the scope of the research were evaluated using SPSS program and qualitative data were evaluated by content analysis using MAXQDA program. As a result of the research, while there was a significant difference between the mindset perceptions of primary school teachers, there was no significant difference when we examined the characteristics of perceiving intelligence in terms of age variable. In this direction, it is possible that teachers' intelligence is affected by different situations rather than age. On the other hand, a significant difference was found between female teachers with fixed or developing mindset in terms of their mindset perceptions.