Applying Cognitive motivational theories in a high school art class

1. Amy Migliore
Motivation to Learn Paper Ed 510,
Fall semester „08
Applying Cognitive Motivational theories in a high school art class
To increase the chances of nurturing self-determined students, a culture of achievement can be
created in the visual arts classroom. Autonomous and competent students are developed through this type
of environment and the influence of cognitive motivational theories. Teachers who intentionally
implement these research-based ideas reap the benefits of students who take ownership in their work and
link their success to effort and persistence. The powerful potential for this can be found in the main
cognitive principles of motivation (Eggen & Kauchak,2007): Expectancy x Value theory, Self-efficacy
theory, Goal theory, Attribution theory and Self-determination theory.
In a hands-on, visual arts classroom, one would expect that students come with a high intrinsic
value placed on the curriculum, and even though that is true for the most part, a number of students still
do not expect that they can succeed at accomplishing a good piece of art. Expectancy times Value theory
( Wigfield & Eccles, 1992, 2000) explains this phenomenon. It is a theory based on related studies which
suggest that a student‟s schema, (Eccles, Wigfield, & Schiefele, 198:Wigfield, Eccles, 2000) a collection
of emotional memories, competency beliefs and interests times the value of a task is a strong
determination of whether or not students will feel motivated to persist onto success. The task value is
determined by four factors: intrinsic interest, importance, utility value and cost (Eccles et al., 1998). The
worth of task values is all related to the importance it holds for an individual. If someone is willingly
inclined to do something and if it has a universal intrigue to it (Hidi, 2001), it usually has high intrinsic
value. Accomplishing a task that will validate personal beliefs or support one‟s priorities, means that the
task has importance (Wigfield & Eccles, 1992). Utility Value relates to the useful purpose something has

2. now or in the future (Wigfield & Eccles, 1992). Cost refers to the price one pays for being involved in a
task. Both emotional (Pintrich & Schunk, 2002) and time costs are associated with this general category.
Related to the prior, is the theory of Self-efficacy (Bandura, 1986, 1997,2004; Schunk, 2004),
which is again rooted in personal beliefs. Self-efficacy is the belief about an individual‟s capability to
achieve and is affected by the following four factors: past performance, modeling, verbal persuasion and
psychological state (Bandura, 1986). Helping students achieve from the very beginning is extremely
important because negative past performance will put up future roadblocks that can hinder a willingness
to continue trying, just as a past success will advance future accomplishments. Modeling (Bandura, 1986,
1997; Kitsantas, Zimmerman, & Cleary, 2000) and verbal persuasion are common practices among many
educators. Modeling helps to build prior knowledge and visually outline the steps to follow toward an
outcome; whereas positive and credible verbal affirmations encourage taking risks toward success.
The former two theories collectively referred to inner beliefs as does this next motivational
strategy, Goal theory (Thrash & Elliot, 2001), but this one also recommends a philosophical switch in
how to approach learning and what types of achievement targets are the most effective. Goal theory
espouses the idea that mastery of knowledge, a learning goal (Midgley, 2001; Pintrich, 2000), is a more
important ambition than performing just to complete a task. Students who are performance oriented will
likely fall into traps of avoidance of a goal (Dai, 2000) or over-emphasis on perceived ability. In contrast,
learning goals focus on doing whatever it takes to grasp the concept regardless of a student‟s starting
ability. A students who sets a learning goal works with effort and persistence which ultimately gives the
learner more control than relying on the uncontrollable attribution of ability.
Along the same lines of looking at what students use to blame or praise their failures and
successes on, comes Attribution theory. Some of the typical attributions for learning are ability and effort
along with ideas like luck and task difficulty or even the quality of a teacher (B.Weiner, 1992, 2001). The
optimism related with this theory is that students can be re-trained ( Robertson, 2000) to see their

3. achievements as a result of effort rather than innate ability and that can give students back a sense of
control rather than feeling limited by their perceived lack of ability (Marsh, 1990).
The last motivational theory of Self-determination (Brophy, 2004; Pintrich & Schunk, 2002) is
best referenced in the common parenting quote about children needing “roots and wings, so they‟ll grow
up and do great things.” Self-determination is best achieved by walking the delicate line of guiding and
encouraging, while giving challenges, choices and freedom. Believing in a student‟s capability to meet
appropriate challenges and expressing that through verbal and emotional displays helps to create
competence. As students build their competence they feel more empowered (Deci & Ryan, 2002) which
leads into autonomy (A. Black & Deci, 2000; Bruning et al., 2004), and they actively take charge of their
learning process. While giving them these wings of freedom, students also need to know they are
supported and their quests for knowledge; the human interaction and coaching of a teacher helps fill a
universal need for relating and bonding to others (Furrer & Skinner, 2003; McCombs, 2001), and this
strengthens a student‟s resolve.
In the art classroom, my goal is to increase self-efficacy by guiding students to achieve visually
appealing art works that they can display with pride—not only in the finished project, as a performance
objective, but in the process as well—emphasizing learning goals. I aim to increase students‟ competence
and autonomy by helping them to set reasonable, individual goals which are focused on the mastery of a
concept.
I try to build positive past practices right from the beginning of my course by leading students
through a moderately challenging first project that has a high interest task value because of its visual
aesthetics. As a class, we sequentially move through each requirement together, with allowable
differentiations along the way, but students are not allowed to move onto a new project phase until they
have proficiently accomplished the current task. This ensures that every step must be successfully
mastered, and students learn that through effort and following a model, they can do what is expected of
them and more.

4. There are always students in my class who place a high value on the task of creating art, but are
sometimes hindered by their self-concept of seeing themselves as artists. One of the questions I ask on
the first day is if they consider themselves artists. Even in an elective class, most of the students say no
and offer the explanation that they “can‟t draw”. This, again displays an attribution on ability rather than
on effort. Comparable research has been done on the creative development of children by researcher
Viktor Lowenfeld. In his theory, students in the age group of 12-14 years old are in a “Period of
Decision” about art, which means that,
“Art at this stage of life is something to be done or left alone. Natural development will cease
unless a conscious decision is made to improve drawing skills. Students are critically aware of
the immaturity of their drawing and are easily discouraged. Lowenfeld's solution is to enlarge
their concept of adult art to include non-representational art and art occupations besides
painting (architecture, interior design, handcrafts, etc.)” (Susan K. Donley, 1987).
At this stage of development, if they don‟t think they can draw realistically, they are likely to give up on
art all together, which is where the cognitive strategies can help re-train students‟ perspectives. What
doesn‟t help is that in our current education system, art electives have been dramatically cut from
programs and students are not mandatorily taking as many art courses as they did in the past. So by the
time high school comes, some students have a high interest, but also have a domain specific (P. Smith &
Fouad, 1999) anxiety about art because they haven‟t had many past opportunities to succeed. To increase
their self-efficacy, I demonstrate each task as well as provide student and master samples which use the
concept of modeling to build their prior knowledge and specially show what the requirements looks like.
I start by giving credible but frequent verbal affirmations based on effort and then slowly taper off the
amount of praise as I see the students gaining skill abilities. As we progress through the course, I refer
back to these past successes but always challenge them to do more.

5. My course is a 45 day course that is designed to be a general elective for all students. I know that
many students do not perceive themselves as artists unless they can draw, but my classes are very short
and include a variety of hands-on projects. Therefore, my goal is to re-train them to view an artist as a
creative problem solver who uses visual materials, not solely someone who draws well. I systematically
work at retraining them by starting everyone on a common level, by focusing on the rules and guidelines
for creating visually sound designs. Students begin to see that if they apply these rules, then they too can
create exciting pieces—just like the talented kids in the class! The elements and principles of design
provide a model of the artistic process and also break down the goal of a visually attractive end product
into specific and moderately challenging steps, which ties into goal theory. The already skilled students
become more competent as they start to understand why, the things they do, work and how to get around
creative blocks in the future. I find that starting from these art basics actually creates a more autonomous
learner quickly and many students ask to alter his/her assignments to fit their growing knowledge and
enthusiasm.
Students are given the goal of visually proving they understand the concepts on sketch paper first,
and then if they are approved by me in an individual conference, they can begin their final. This holds
them accountable to put forth credible effort and helps to create competence because I am showing belief
that they can achieve that step so they can move onto their final. What they don‟t understand at first, is
that the prep work is sometimes the hard part. Once they work through the planning and sketching goals,
they get to enjoy the hands-on part of the project and that in itself is usually enough motivation to get
them through successfully. Their goals are specifically defined on a rubric, checklist or written on the
board, yet there is ample opportunity for them to make individual choices as long as they clear it with me.
I closely monitor their progress so I can help them course correct along the way and I use the vocabulary
from the principles of design to critique their work so that they can see the work is objective and
controllable.

6. Often art seems to be perceived as an intuitive, unstable and subjective force, and although that
may be true in some instances, it is also my responsibility to make visual design an achievable success
through clear and objective vocabulary, rules and steps. However, even though I strive for no student to
be left behind, there are some who are so stuck by previous experiences or affective memories, that the
small amount of time I have with them isn‟t enough to fully re-train them. For students who seem to be
work-avoidant learners or ones with a tendency toward learned helplessness, I have found that setting
time goals works very well and focuses them back on the attribute of effort rather than on their emotions.
I tell a student who is struggling in this area that if they can give me 10-15 minutes of concentrated effort,
then they can take a 5-10 minute break. This is usually enough of an incentive to get them going again,
especially if I move them away from their social table groups and offer the reward of moving back for
their „break‟ time.
In the visual arts course, determined attempts at increasing self-efficacy are made right from the
start by modeling, providing positive, attainable and challenging activities so students can immediately
gain successful performances off which to build. Current samples of excellent work are used to help
increase the worth of the tasks. As I reviewed the cognitive theories on motivation, I felt a sense of hope
about the ability of educators to plan for motivation instead of wait around for students to bring it.
Although some may argue that motivation can‟t be taught, I would argue that it can be caught, and as
professionals, armed with the cognitive studies, we can create the best possible culture and environment
in which students can catch it!

7. References:
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8. Midgley, C. (2001). A goal theory perspective on current status of middle level school. In
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9. Dear (Parent‟s name),
I am so glad that your son/daughter has decided to join my Studio Art class this semester. In my
experiences, I have talked to many adults and students who are both excited and apprehensive to take an
art class. I hope that as you continue to read about my class procedures, any fears will be put to rest. [I
am setting up an expectation for relatedness and also that the environment will be welcoming]
My belief as an artist and teacher is that everyone has the ability to be creative. [Sharing my belief
is verbal persuasion to enhance self-efficacy] I understand that some of my students come with innate
talents in the visual arts and others simply enjoy the hands-on challenges and creative outlet that is
provided in an art course. Still others might feel anxious because of negative experiences in the past or
critical remarks they may have received. I am fully aware of this wide spectrum of feelings and skills as I
develop my lessons for this general art elective. [I acknowledge the variety of attributions that might
pertain to art class] Because of this, I work very hard with each student to set them up for success by
carefully mapping out achievable steps and concise requirements as well as leaving room for them to
make choices. [I intend to show that effective goal setting will be used and autonomy promoted]
Success is not a secret in my class, it is a partnership. My job as the teacher is to construct the
environment and lessons so that maximum learning can occur. As a partner in this community, it is the
student‟s minimum responsibility to put forth the degree of effort it takes to complete a task proficiently.
[This is to establish the appropriate attribution of effort for my class] Ultimate success in grades will be
achieved by putting forth one‟s ultimate efforts.
Sincerely,

10. Mrs. Migliore