What Research Tells Us about Motivating Students for Art Activity

National Art Education Association

What Research Tells Us about Motivating Students for Art ActivityAuthor(s): Ronald H. SilvermanSource: Art Education, Vol. 24, No. 5 (May, 1971), pp. 27-31Published by: National Art Education AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3191665 .

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What Research

Tells Us

About

Motivating Students for

Art Activity

Ronald H. Silverman

Simply stated, motivation implies being sufficiently interested in something to act upon that interest. In September 1959, 300 third, fourth, and fifth graders in the Los Alamitos, California, School District were asked to rank their preferences for school subjects.' Their first choice was Art, fol- lowed by Arithmetic, Reading, Spelling, and an additional six subjects. In April, 1962, this study was replicated in the

Cajon Valley, California, School District. This time 550

fourth, fifth, and sixth graders were asked to rank their preferences.2 Most preferred Arithmetic, but closely behind was

Art, far ahead of the other eight subjects listed. One can infer from these descriptive studies that middle

and upper elementary grade pupils prefer Art to most other school subjects. But what one cannot infer is their readiness to act upon this professed interest. In fact, in the first study cited, no correlation was found between achievement in

reading and arithmetic (the only achievement variables measured) and stated preferences for those subjects, except for girls who appear to choose or not choose arithmetic based upon their achievement in the subject. As far as Art is concerned, this lack of correlation coheres with investigations that describe the low status3 and general ineffective- ness4 of art education in the elementary school.

One is led to assume that motivation and achievement are inextricably related. Without motivation, achievement is doubtful, and where achievement exists one can be fairly certain motivation preceded it. But it is not sufficient to ask if one's students are interested in the subject called art to establish levels of motivation for art activity. One needs to ask more probing questions based upon a deeper and more complete understanding of the meaning of motivation.

Therefore, this review of research related to motivating stu-

dents for art activities will be essentially an exercise in de-

dents for art activities will be essentially an exercise in de-

fining terms, interpreting findings from relevant research studies both within and outside of the field of art education, and speculating about how such terms and findings can be utilized in developing a theory concerned with motivating students for participation in art learning situations.

Defining and Categorizing Within the context of education, motivation can be de-

fined as the process of arousing, sustaining, and regulating activity for the purpose of causing the pupil to perform in a desired way.5 The questions that need to be answered to

engage successfully in the process of motivation are: what

types of motivation are there? what techniques can be used to evoke a particular type of motivation in a particular situation? and which techniques and types of motivation can be used best with what kinds of learners and in which kinds of art activity? Art activity is defined as the process whereby skills and knowledge are developed to produce and respond to visual-aesthetic form through art-making experiences, reading and talking about art, and examining art.

Motives appear to serve four general aims: to help one

stay alive and to be safe from injury, to acquire enjoyment from living, and to experience change or novelty.6 One can

categorize motivating processes in various ways. For exam-

ple, as forces described as needs, desires, goals, and inten- tions; as forces residing within and outside of the individual; as those which are intrinsic or external to an event which is the object of one's interest;

7 or as motives associated with survival and security, and satisfaction and stimulation.8

Deficiency motives. Interests in survival and security can be classified as deficiency motives because they are involved



with avoiding: 1) concerns of the body such as hunger, fatigue, cold and pain; 2) self-concerns such as feelings of

inferiority, failure, shame, guilt, fear, and sadness; 3) inter- actions with others that would generate interpersonal con- flicts and hostility or reduce one's prestige and status; and 4) contacts with those aspects of the environment which are

dangerous, ugly, disgusting, unstable, or vague.9 Abundancy motives. Conversely, desires for satisfaction

and stimulation can be described as abundancy motives since they are concerned with attaining: 1) bodily responses to pleasurable tastes, odors, and sounds, and to the exercise of muscles and rhythmical movements; 2) a positive self- image by experiencing feelings of self-respect and confi- dence, and through expressing oneself and feeling a sense of achievement and challenge; 3) interpersonal goals such as a positive identification with people and groups, and helping and understanding other people; and 4) relation-

ships with the environment that lead to possessing, con-

structing, and inventing objects, solving problems, and seeking novelty and change.0l

Internal motivation. When one experiences thirst, hunger, fatigue, or pain he is driven to alleviate his condition by striving for water, food, rest, or medical help. His internal state motivates him to act in certain ways from which inferences are made about his drives, needs, or interests which otherwise would not be apparent. Internal drives are among those described previously as deficiency motives which are directed at avoiding deficits, deprivations, threats, and disruptions. Such motives are extremely strong, and

they present a particular problem in the classroom for two

apparent reasons. They frequently take precedence over interests inherent within the school situation; e.g., when the

pupil falls asleep during an art lesson because his need for rest is greater than any reward he might desire and receive from participating in the art activity. And such motives are

extremely difficult for the teacher to manipulate, either in terms of provoking them into existence or controlling how internal drives will manifest themselves. For example, when the art teacher threatens to give a pupil a failing grade to stimulate greater effort, he cannot be certain if the pupil will try harder, give-up entirely, or respond to the threat by becoming extremely hostile and begin to display behaviors which adversely effect the classroom climate.

External motivation. The art teacher will probably be more successful in managing his pupils' behavior by focus- ing on motivations other than so-caller inner, or basic drives. Such interests appear to exist outside of the individual and are frequently associated with particular properties of objects and events. These appeal to interests that seem to be related to those previously described abundancy motives which are directed toward maximizing gratification and enriching experience.

While a preoccupation with "inner need states" appear to characterize early investigations into motivation, more recent studies have focused upon identifying and controlling motives which are more directly observable. In addition, old notions about conditioning motivations based upon rewarding or punishing basic drives are seen as inadequate. A body of empirical evidence is building up which asserts that what really appears to motivate human beings is the desire to know, the urge to explore, and the need to master one's environment.1 And, further, that every object or event in one's environment or experience can be assigned an "information" or "complexity" value, and that these values are crucial properties of the object or event which serve as

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motivating forces as long as they function as goals and not simply as a means to another end."2

Variables Effecting Motivation

The foregoing review which has served to both define and categorize human motives brings us to a review of studies which have some relevance for attempting to manipulate or maximize motivation for art activities.

Contingency management. Cohen,'3 in discussing his study conducted at the National Training School for Boys in

Washington, D.C., asserts that it is essential to deal with the issue of "what's in it for me" if the student is to learn; i.e., pupils must be self-motivated if they are to acquire what the school typically offers. Cohen discusses the rewards that appear to motivate "normal" students, such as receiving good grades or $5.00 for every "A", or studying hard to stay in college to avoid being drafted. But he concludes that since his subjects were all school-failures and hardly normal, such motivations were of little value. He found that money was a relevant motive because it could be used to make a wide variety of decisions effecting the life-style of his students, who were in reality in prison. For example, with money they could pay rent for a private room and purchase a variety of food served in dishes instead of on a metal tray. Thus, he was able to manage their learning behavior by paying them for doing their lessons. Boys with a history of failure received what they wanted-money and the things it could buy- contingent upon their doing what they needed to do: studying relevant school subjects in order to acquire the skills and knowledge they must have to function in the out-of- prison world.

The technique of contingency management is a very pow- erful device for motivating behavior. It does in fact cut

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across all age and status groups. One merely needs to know what would be truly rewarding to the individual being man- aged and then provide the reward after he does what is required of him. And, if teachers were working as tutors, on a one-to-one relationship with a pupil, or if they had twenty- four hour control over the behavior of their charges, as in Cohen's study, such a technique could indeed become the basis for interesting children and youth in what has to be learned.

But since these circumstances do not obtain in the typical classroom, and further, since many children of affluent, comfortable, and successful parents are more role than goal oriented, the art teacher must find other ways of motivating his students. In what follows several viable alternatives are suggested that warrant our consideration.

Opportunities to deal with complexity. In a study utilizing seven and eleven year olds of average intelligence and achievement, Janes14 found that if they were allowed or asked to do so, children are usually able to elaborate upon their own ideas. And, although their responses will usually be rather matter-of-fact, this is normal for children in the concrete operations stage (to use Piaget's phrase) of mental development. She also found that when encouraged to do so children can make comparisons and deal with art objects thematically, descriptively, and analytically.

While this study does not deal with motivation directly, it does have implications for use because seven and eleven year olds studying art as Janes describes it are certainly concerned with those "information" and "complexity" values which we seek to attain. Therefore, it seems reasonable to assume that children responding to art in terms of its complexity and the information it provides would be motivated to participate in such activities.

The value of discussion. In her investigation of disadvantaged rural fourth and sixth graders, Bolton15 found that their creative thinking could be increased through defining, describing, explaining, and interpreting ideas about art. She concluded that such activities were as vital to art learning as was making art objects. Her subjects were pre- and post tested over a three month period using Torrance's figural tests, Thinking Creatively with Pictures which cover the factors of originality, fluency, flexibility, and elaboration in thinking.

Douglas and Schwartz16 studied four-year-olds as they reacted to opportunities to share in a planned discussion of ceramic pieces once a week over a twelve week period. Discussion centered around such questions as what is it? who do you suppose did it? how did he do it? and could he have done it in another material? Each discussion period was concluded with the question "can you talk with clay?" The investigators found that this type of motivation-offer- ing opportunities for greater verbal and visual stimulation- resulted in a 25 to 80 percent greater participation in working with clay over the non-discussing control groups; and the utilization, within the control group, of such words as flatten, pat, pound, pull, punch, rub, and twist, none of which were used in the control group situation.

From the findings of these two studies one can infer that both participation and accomplishment in art activity are facilitated by opportunities for talking in relevant ways about art. And it would seem appropriate to speculate that such discussion relates to those motives directed at attending to particular properties of objects and events for the purpose of enriching experiences.

Ideational versus concrete activity. In his examination of the effects on eighth graders of lecture versus lecture-activity upon acquiring an understanding of Cubism, Day17 found the latter approach resulted in students scoring significantly higher on a knowledge of Cubism test. He concluded that the pupil's daily involvement with their own original art work based upon ideas introduced through the study of Cubism resulted in many opportunities for reinforcement of subject matter concepts through casual discussion. And, further, that increased respect and understanding for Cubist painting seemed to result as pupils discovered through their own efforts the magnitude and nature of the Cubist contri- bution to twentieth century art.

One can infer and generalize from these findings that the motivation to learn about the history of art is cultivated through opportunities to actually manipulate historical concepts in a current problem solving situation.

Wiggin 18 in his descriptive study which inquired into the preferences of elementary and secondary mentally retarded pupils, found that art activities were most meaningful when they: were concrete rather than ideational; evoke strong tactile reactions and involve large muscle activity of a stren- uous nature; conform to attitudes and preferences of peers and adults; and resulted in objects that could be given as gifts. The most popular activities were making raised copper trays and bowls, and leather tooling. The least popular were finger painting, drawing, and self portraits.

It appears to be clear from this study that retarded pupils are primarily motivated by physical and status needs rather than the excitement provided by opportunities for explora- tion and discovery or the challenge of complexity. Such motives as attaining: a positive self-concept, pleasure from the use of muscles and rhythmical movements (leather tooling, for instance), and identifying with others can reasonably be associated with the findings of Wiggin's study.

Divergent versus convergent approaches. Madeja,19 in comparing the effects upon art achievement and growth in creativity of divergent versus convergent approaches to teaching high school students, found that divergent methods of instruction were most effective with high achievers and convergent approaches were more appropriate for those with little art ability. These findings would parallel those of Wiggin who also found that concrete and specific activities were more relevant to his group.

The findings of Madeja and Wiggin lead us to at least the tentative conclusion that motivations differ for different groups. High school students of high ability would be motivated by the challenge of an ambiguous situation rich with opportunities to be flexible and original, while low ability students would be inclined to respond more readily to a situation which is easily definable in terms of its limitations and rewards.

Deductive versus inductive approaches. Michael 2 investigated the effects of awards, and adult and peer standards on the art behavior of high school students in several art classes. He found that creative development appears to be hampered by such influences and concluded that sugges- tions from peers and adults are more helpful when they are flexible and responsive to discoveries made via the trial and error approach rather than when provided in a rigid, pre- conceived manner.

Based upon Michael's findings one can speculate that opportunities for discovery are relevant motives for participating in creative activities which are themselves character-



ized by flexibility, fluency, and originality. Such characteristics can readily be associated with being motivated to attain relationships with one's environment that lead to construct- ing and inventing objects which reflect a seeking for novel responses. The rigid imposition of awards, and adult and peer standards would serve to interfere with being so motivated.

Related to Michael's study is Jones'' research review which led him to conclude that pupils discovering princi- ples for themselves (the inductive approach) tended to be more highly motivated and persistent in solving problems than those who were given a principle to apply (the deductive approach). Jones believes that a lack of definite, teacher- approved rules creates a mild anxiety within students; and that such anxiety is a strong motivator for attempting to learn a task provided the stress which has been aroused can be reduced by what is learned.

Knowledge of one's status. Lienard,22 working with junior high art students, found that her subjects' dissatisfaction with their own art products stimulated further effort which resulted in improvement. The initial high achievers in her study showed little improvement because they saw no need for improvement.

Bradley,23 working with college sophomores and juniors to ascertain the effects of self-evaluation upon their per- formance in art, found that students who are concerned with rules and tradition, who need to plan carefully, and who worry about end-product results, function better where an intermittent in-process self-evaluation is encouraged. In his review of research findings related to his study, he noted that: (a) check lists on which students evaluated their progress during art activity resulted in significant improvement in art products; (b) the degree of change that occurs in the early stages of drawing effects the quality of the end product; (c) end-product evaluation does not promote creativity; and (d) students who talk more during the opening phase of a dialogue do better in art tasks and score higher on tests of originality.

In a somewhat related music study, Gordon 24 investigated the value of possessing information about pupils' musical aptitudes. Over a two-year period he studied 400 fourth and fifth graders who had no previous instruction in music. At the beginning of the study, his experimental group com- pleted the Musical Aptitude Profile which provided information about their existing abilities. Gordon found that when students were taught by a teacher possessing knowledge about their musical aptitudes, it was possible for him to use such knowledge to increase their musical achievement beyond that of students about whom he did not possess such information.

Obviously, possessing information about one's own status or the status of one's students relates to one's motivation for maintaining or improving this relative position on what- ever hierarchal system is being employed. Therefore, it would seem apparent that feedback information is an extremely important device for motivating students to put forth greater effort. And, when feedback is provided along the lines suggested in Bradley's study, it should prove to be an even stronger stimulus because it makes it possible to apply one's efforts in specific ways and to specific problems which, in turn, maximizes the possibility for achievement.

The value of a structured approach. Salome,25 working with fourth and fifth graders found that perceptual training in the use of visual cues along contour lines increases the amount of visual information children include in their

30

drawings. Neperud,26 in his study of different approaches to teach-

ing fifth graders, found that acquiring information about the visual elements accrued via the teacher centered, rather than the cooperative or child centered classroom situation.

Wilson27 attempted to improve the ability of fifth and sixth graders to perceive sensory qualities, and formal and symbolic aspects of paintings by carefully programming language and learning experiences. He found that such an approach reduced their literal responses to works while increasing responses to shapes and colors, movement, direc- tion, value contrasts, and symbolism.

Perceptual training, the teacher-centered classroom, and programming materials are all attempts to structure art learning experiences. They appear to result in seeing more and in more sophisticated ways. Therefore, because such approaches appear to maximize opportunities to actually possess the qualities and meanings inherent in a work of art, they should be strong factors in generating the type of interest in art one can act upon.

Another study which also establishes the efficacy of the structured approach is the one conducted by Hardiman and Johnson 28 with college students. They found that a structured approach to making a collage results in a structured, organized collage and that a scrambled approach resulted in a disorganized collage. One can infer from this study that a structured approach provides the organized, comprehensi- ble result which, in turn, provides the individual with the gratification which serves as the motive force for additional experiences in art.

Depth versus breadth. Silverman, et al,29 in their study of well over 1,000 disadvantaged seventh graders, found that: emphasizing concepts (the depth aproach) rather than media and unrelated projects (the breadth approach) resulted in greater growth in spatial orientation aptitude and the ability to deal with more sophisticated concepts; well trained and experienced teachers are better able to develop students' drawing skills and their aptitude for visual speed and accu- racy; and teachers who are able to clearly conceptualize what they intend to teach are better able to develop an understanding of art vocabulary and spatial orientation aptitudes.

From these findings one can infer that genuine motivation for art activity should occur in the classes of well trained and experienced teachers who are able to conceptualize clearly what they intend to teach and who employ the depth approach to teaching. This should follow because the complexity and information associated with the aforementioned aptitudes and the sense of achievement accompanying their attainments are all positive motivating forces.

In an earlier study with ninth graders concerned with the depth versus breadth issue, Beittel, et al30 also found that a long term concentration on one area of study that focuses on cumulative and sequential learning (depth) is superior for developing art related aptitudes than is studying a variety of subjects to accommodate differences in interest and experiences of students (breadth). Although they found the breadth approach to be most popular with the students, the investigators concluded that the depth approach makes observable progress, an unavoidable issue, a challenge an instructional requirement for both students and teacher.

The notions of "issue" and "challenge" are certainly variables which play important roles in the motivational picture.



Summary and Conclusions

From the foregoing review and attempt to define and categorize the concept of motivation, one can summarize and draw the following conclusions about the topic of this pa- per: what research tells us about motivating students for art activity.

Motives can be classified in two ways: as interests which stimulate actions toward the reduction of anxieties or as interests which contribute to satisfying man's innate curiosity. Jones suggests that both of these motives are brought into play when the teacher arouses moderate levels of anxiety in his students by making them aware of what they do not know (or what they can be curious about).3'

From our research review we can also conclude that motivation will be stimulated when the art teacher: 1) knows about his students' aptitudes for art and what is truly meaningful to them; 2) utilizes a carefully structured, inductive, and in-depth approach to teaching which recognizes differences in the interests in concrete and ideational materials of slow and fast learners; 3) provides opportunities for discus- sions which attract attention to the complexity of art and, thereby, arouse curiosity; and 4) helps students to identify the criteria by which they can evaluate themselves as they work and, thereby, serve as a stimulus for accomplishment.

And finally, a most obvious related conclusion would be that these practices should also eventuate in the development of abilities to produce and respond significantly to art, itself.

Ronald H. Silverman is professor of art, California State College, Los Angeles, California

References

E. L. Greenblatt, "An Analysis of School Subject Pref- erences of Elementary School Children of the Mid- dle Grades," The Journal of Education Research. 55:554-560; August, 1962.

2James Inskeep and Monroe Rowland, "An Analysis of School Subject Preferences of Elementary School Children of the Middle Grades: Another Look," The Journal of Educational Research 58:225-228; January, 1965.

3Research Division, National Education Association. Music and Art in the Public Schools. Research Monograph, 1963-M3.

4Elliot W. Eisner, A Comparison of the Developmen- tal Drawing Characteristics of Culturally Advan- taged and Culturally Disadvantaged Children. Final Report, September, 1967 (U.S. Office of Edu- cation Project No. 3086).

Carter V. Good, Dictionary of Education. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1959. page 354.

David Krech and Richard S. Crutchfield, Elements of Psychology. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1958. page 7.

/ Good, op. cit. 8 Krech and Crutchfield, op. cit., p. 279. 9 Ibid. o Ibid. ' William N. Dember, "The New Look in Motivation,"

American Scientist 53:409-427; December, 1965. i2 Ibid.

3 Harold L. Cohen, "The Educational Model." IRCD Bulletin (Information Retrieval Center on the Dis- advantaged) 3:1-2; May, 1967.

'4 Helen Elizabeth Janes, "Conceptual Modes of Chil- dren in Responding to Art Objects," Studies in Art Education 11:52-60; Spring, 1970.

"Shirley L. Bolton, "An Introductory Study of Art as Creative Learning for the Rural Culturally Disad- vantaged," Studies in Art Education 10:50-56; Winter, 1969.

" Nancy J. Douglas and Julia B. Schwartz, "Increasing

Awareness of Art Ideas of Young Children Through Guided Experiences with Ceramics," Studies in Art Education 8:2-9; Spring, 1967.

'Michael D. Day, "The Compatibility of Art History and Studio Art Activity in the Junior High School Art Program: A Comparison of Two Methods of Teaching Art History," Studies in Art Education 10:57-65; Winter, 1969.

8 Richard G. Wiggin, "Art Education for Mentally Han- dicapped Children," Studies in Art Education 3:88- 102; Fall, 1961.

'9Stanley S. Madeja, "The Effects of Divergent and Convergent Emphasis in Art Instruction on Stu- dents of High and Low Ability," Studies in Art Education 8:10-20; Spring, 1967.

20John Michael, "The Effect of Award, Adult Standard, and Peer Standard Upon the Creativeness in Art of High School Pupils," Research in Art Education, 9th Yearbook of the NAEA, 1959, pp. 98-104.

: J. Charles Jones, Learning. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc. 1967. pp. 70-71.

"2Marguerite Lienard, "What is the Relationship of Children's Satisfaction With Their Art Products to Improvement in Art?", Studies in Art Education 3:55-65; Fall, 1961.

23William R. Bradley, "A Preliminary Study of the Effect of Verbalization and Personality Orienta- tion on Art Quality," Studies in Art Education 9: 31-37; Winter, 1968.

24 Edwin Gordon, "Taking into Account Musical Apti- tude Differences Among Beginning Instrumental Students," American Educational Research Journal 7:41-53; January, 1970.

25 R. A. Salome, "The Effects of Perceptual Training Upon the Two-Dimensional Drawings of Chil- dren," Studies in Art Education 7:18-33; Autumn, 1965.

26Ronald W. Neperud, "An Empirical Study of Visual Elements, Selected Art Instruction Methods, and Drawing Development at the Fifth Grade Level," Studies in Art Education 7:3-13; Spring, 19t66.

27 Brent G. Wilson, "An Experimental Study Designed to Alter Fifth and Sixth Grade Students' Perceptions of Paintings," Studies in Art Education 8:33-42; Autumn, 1966.

7 George Hardiman and James J. Johnson, Jr., "Analy- sis of Motivational Stimulus Structure: An Explora- tory Study," Studies in Art Education 7:12-22; Spring, 1966.

9 Ronald Silverman, et al., "Developing and Evaluating Art Curricula for Disadvantaged Youth," Studies in Art Education 11:20-33; Fall, 1969.

30 Kenneth Beittel, et al., "The Effect of A 'Depth' vs. a 'Breadth' Method of Art Instruction at the Ninth Grade Level," Studies in Art Education 3:75-87; Fall, 1961.

31 Jones, op. cit., p. 70.

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What Research Tells Us about Motivating Students for Art Activity