For many years, intelligence was thought to be static (fixed) and could not be altered. Informal research has shown students believe this when it comes to thinking about their mathematics intelligence. But with the advent of advanced technology and cognitive labs, psychologists and neuroscientists have found that aspects of intelligence -- and even intelligence itself -- can be altered through training and experiences.
Exposing individuals to new learning experiences serves as a way of working or exercising the brain. As we know that we can strengthen a muscle, system or reflex through exercise, it makes sense that exercising the brain would make it stronger. The brain becomes stronger when we learn something unfamiliar, creating new connections that can be stored in memory and providing frameworks to link new knowledge by association. In other words, as Anita Woolfolk writes in Educational Psychology, "What we already know determines to a great extent what we will pay attention to, perceive, learn, remember and forget."
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http://www.edutopia.org/blog/growth-mindset-common-core-math-cindy-bryant