CHOICE: CREATIVITY AND MOTIVATION

The Effect of Choice In the Classroom: Assisted Learning

From the Perspective of Creativity and Motivation
Yuji Hikaru
Vancouver Island University, and Dover Bay Secondary

CHOICE: CREATIVITY AND MOTIVATION

Abstract
The research conducted assessed the intricacies of how implementing the aspect of
student choice from a gamified system of learning effected student creativity, motivation,
and artistic development in a grade eight art class. I hypothesized that student choice
would create a more dynamic classroom environment through improved student
motivation, creativity and differentiated projects. Furthermore, the impact of a dynamic
classroom, and all that accompanies it, would increase the speed at which artistic
development occurs. Unfortunately, choice had a marginal affect on these
developmental skills. When implemented, a choice in content without a choice in
medium or unit area provided little enhancement to student growth. The vast majority of
students chose to do what the class as a whole thought to be the easiest project,
investing little time or effort into the course material. While the class in general was less
effected, a few high preforming students attempted more difficult projects and thus
received the expected benefits of choice. Further study is necessary to gauge the
complete effectiveness of choice in the classroom. I would suggest a focused study on
choice when the students have the option of selecting both the unit and content for their
course work. Perhaps this would successfully result in students being invested in their
own learning and course work.
Keywords: education, choice, motivation, creativity, secondary, art

CHOICE: CREATIVITY AND MOTIVATION

In a previous practicum at Woodlands Secondary School, I observed students

with little motivation or investment in their learning for a period of three weeks. As a
result, I wanted to find a way to better engage my students with their learning, and
providing them with more choice seemed like an effective method. So, how does
implementing the aspect of student choice from a gamified system of learning assist
student creativity, motivation, and artistic development in a grade eight art class?
Throughout the course of my research and observations I will be exploring this
dimension of student development.
The research for this project took place in Dover Bay Secondary School under
the supervision of Lee Venables and Janis Uvanile. Dover Bay Secondary School is
located at 6135 McGirr Rd., Nanaimo, BC, V9V1M1 and is a part of school district 68
(Nanaimo/Ladysmith). The principle of Dover Bay Mrs. Gray (1992) has stated that the
instructors, administrators, and students are committed to the intellectual, human,
social, and career development of every student. Furthermore, they maintain the belief
that all students are unique and should be valued equally, and that learning is a lifelong
process. To this end, all students, teachers, staff, and parents must be accountable and
committed to their actions. Individual student and parent values are important and will
be continually developed upon to create well-rounded students fit for further education
or involvement in the workforce.
The participants of this study are all grade eight students between the ages of
thirteen and fourteen. These students come from a variety of socioeconomic
backgrounds with most falling into the category of middle-class citizens. As such, it is
typical of students to own technology, and be dropped off by their parents. However,

CHOICE: CREATIVITY AND MOTIVATION

within this grade eight art class of 28 students, five or more of them likely belong to
lower income families as the previous statement does not hold true for them.
Regardless of income or social standing, many students (above 40% of the class
population) feel stressed and that their lives outside of school are very busy.
The classroom in which this study took place has been designed around the
context of facilitating art projects. On account of this, desks are made up of large tables
pushed together into sizeable squares. Students arranged at these tables form groups
of four to six individuals. This structure has been created to facilitate student growth
allowing them to learn from their peers throughout their studies. The context of this is of
great concern to this study. As art is usually seen as a subject in which freedom is a
given, students may not be as receptive to the aspect of choice compared to another
subject area. Furthermore, students might see art as either as an easy grade or they
might genuinely want to be there. The effect this has on the outcome may create a false
positive result if the student are intrinsically motivated because of the course material
(Beymer & Thomson, 2015, p. 107). On the other hand, if students are expecting an
easy course they may become apathetic to the class, making it much harder to engage
these students.
On a more personal note, I am more than comfortable with the difficulties
associated with providing student freedom for the development of my students artistic
skills. It should be noted however, that I am unable to provide freedom for my students
in every aspect of classroom choice. My grade eight class is on a rotating schedule
between multiple courses. Due to this, the students are only in my art class for a period
of one month and the course outline is very structured as a result. Furthermore,

CHOICE: CREATIVITY AND MOTIVATION

because I was only present in the class for nine days, if I allowed for total freedom of
choice, my sponsor teacher, Janis Uvanile, would be placed in a tricky position upon my
departure. This has led to the choices being restricted to content only rather than units
as well. Essentially, students would only be able to choose what they would draw, and
not the medium they would work with.
I am personally interested in exploring student choice and this method of
pedagogy because, when I was in high school, I always wished for greater freedom. I
wanted to have a more substantial impact on what I would study and what I would
would create, especially in visual arts. Throughout my high school career, my visual arts
teacher, who shall remain nameless, educated me by forcing me to create specific
works of art rather than letting me develop my own thoughts and choose projects for
myself. I have always hated this style of arts education and consequently, felt hated by
my instructor due to this negative relationship. In the past, when I would strive to create
something personal and original, I would often end up with worse grades regardless of
the amount of time spent on these projects. Over time, I became so infuriated by my
teachers response to my work and would receive a mark of 70% on almost every
project I would submit it felt like my teacher didnt care about me. In addition to this,
art was my favourite subject, so its not hard to imagine my disappointment when I
would receive such a poor grade. Leaving high school, my life has been deeply
impacted by this teacher as I very rarely see the good in my artworks. I chose to go to
an art school for my post-secondary education because I love art and also because I
wanted to spite her. It sounds horrible, but I had something to prove to myself: that my
artwork did suck and that I wasnt a massive failure. Now that I am becoming a teacher,

CHOICE: CREATIVITY AND MOTIVATION

I know that I want to be nothing like my old high school art teacher. I want to give the
kids in my class a fun experience that is open to their own ideas and interests.
Through the development of project based learning in a gamified manner, my
own beliefs are exemplified. I believe that students learn best when they are interested
and engaged in their own projects of their choosing. From my perspective, teaching
becomes good when positive relationships are developed with the students, and when
the interests of the students are encouraged. Through my presents as a student teacher
it is likely that students will see me as more relatable and will hopefully be more open
with their own ideas. This may result in a more effective rendering of the final
assessment of this teaching style. This information matters because I am partially bias
to the success of this teaching method as want it to succeed and believe more choice is
better due to prior experiences.
The issue this research project attempts to cure is the lack of student investment
within the artworks they produce. Last fall during my three week practicum at
Woodlands Secondary School, I couldnt help but notice that some students were
completely disinterested in the work that had been assigned to them by the teacher.
They were given little opportunity to develop their skills in a medium of interest to them.
Simply allowing for a choice in subject matter was not enough, as the physical act of
working with a particular medium is far more involving than the sight of the image being
produced from the artists perspective. In many cases the artist may not even be happy
with their final product, so having the processes of creating being as enjoyable as
possible is paramount. Unfortunately, as previously mentioned, I was unable to

CHOICE: CREATIVITY AND MOTIVATION

implement student choice on the topic of medium or unit selection. Instead, I will be
focussing on the effects of choice in only content selection.
Data for this research project was collected anonymously from the 28 students
participating. In order to achieve this, a polling software called Plickers was used.
Additional insight was collected by my own observations, and the observations of my
sponsor teacher (Janis Uvanile) and supervisor (Lee Venables). All data was recorded
by myself in a small notebook throughout the course of the research project. These
observations included the responses of the students on days where choice was a larger
and smaller part of the overall lesson plan. I made note on student engagement and
progress with regards to their individual projects.
In my research, I implemented a series of questions and strategies surrounding
student choice with the goal of having students impart more of their opinions onto the
work we would be conducting in class. I utilized Plickers, an immediate feedback polling
software, to anonymously ask the students a variety of questions on student choice.
This ticket out the door activity, was executed on the first and last day of my practicum.
I asked a few short questions about the opportunity for choice in this art class: the
amount of choice they have been given in the past, the amount and type of choices they
would like, and how more choice would make them feel. After tabulating the results, I
was able to get an accurate assessment of the students interest on this method of
learning. The questions and polled results were as follows for the first day of class:
In an art class, how much choice have you been given in the past?
A - The Maximum. I was able to work on anything I wanted to.
B - A lot. I was able to work on many different things of my choosing.

CHOICE: CREATIVITY AND MOTIVATION

C - Some. I was given some opportunity to choose what I wanted to do.

D - None or very little. I have been given little chance to chose anything.
16
12
8
4
0
A

What is your stance on student choice? Do you want more choice?

A - I feel I cant get anything done without a provided direction.
B - I would like teacher led projects with little choice.
C - I want more choice but require some teacher guidance.
D - I feel confident in my ability to lead myself and be productive without
any guidance.
14
10.5

3.5
0
A

From these polling it was clear to me that students have not been given much of an
opportunity to have their own inputs heard. The majority of students wanted more
choice and felt that they could handle such projects. At this point in my research, I

CHOICE: CREATIVITY AND MOTIVATION

wondered why their voices had not been heard and why they were not given the
opportunity to choose their own projects for themselves. So with this in mind I decided
to create a painting project for them. I described the project to Christopher Bridge, an
advocate for gamification and student choice within my cohort at Vancouver Island
University. Originally I had three images that the student could choose from. He quickly
observed that the choices could be further expanded from the originals. To this end I
added another two images to the selection. I would have added more but Janis Uvanile
warned me about the dangers of having too much choice in a classroom. To further
reiterate this point, Beymer and Thomson (2015) state that Individuals who lack interest
in a task may see choosing as overwhelming (p. 109) and more options can lead to
more regret (p. 112). Regret will occur when a student feels as though they have to
give something up when selecting between a large set of materials. Furthermore,
Beymer and Thomsons (2015) study indicates that students who chose from a smaller
set of options are more likely to avoid choice overload and produce higher quality work
(p. 116,117). This was the basis for providing my students with a smaller set of
materials. The final project included a series of five images they could choose from all at
varying skill levels. This would provide a scaffolding system for the students and enable
them to choose a project that met their own abilities.
The implementation of my choice based painting project was far from what I had
expected. Students who had said they wanted more choice all selected the easiest
option. There were only six students who chose something different. In order of difficulty
the number of students who chose each image are as follows:

CHOICE: CREATIVITY AND MOTIVATION

1 (Easiest)

10

5 (Hardest)

2
2
2

22

The implications of such an outcome indicated that the vast amount of students really
had no choice at all. Those students simply wanted the easiest option available and had
little interest or involvement in the work they were creating. The six who chose
differently ended up being far more involved in their projects. They spent a greater
amount of time focused on their work than the rest of the class. I even had one student
come in outside of classroom hours to work on their project. While student choice
certainly had an effect on the over achieving students in the class, it did little to involve
the majority of students. These finding culminated in the lack of effort and off task
behaviour found in several of the students who chose the easiest option. Four students
in this group where so disinterested in the assignment that they were up out of their
seats more than five times in a single class of 80 minutes.
By collecting surveys, observational notes, and student artwork I had hoped to
see a greater amount of investment from the students into their work. This would have
appeared as positivity towards student choice in the surveys, verity in the artworks

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11

produced, and enthusiasm during the production of the art pieces. Through choice in
the classroom self-efficacity and be increased and this would further result in an
increased aptitude for the arts (Banfield, 2014, p. 297). However, the only positivity that
occurred was in the anonymous surveys. Throughout the course of the week that
students were working on their projects, I noted enthusiasm on the first and second day
with a deteriorating effect on the assignment from days three to five. During this time I
had Janis Uvanile take notes on student behaviour as well. Her observations were very
much in line with my own, but her perspective was far different. Where I saw my own
failings as a teacher to create interesting content, she chalked it up to be the age group
of the students. She stated that grade eight students are by far the worst behaved out
of every grade I teach. While I did not agree with her assessment, I felt that some of
her misgivings regarding the grade could be a result of the students adjusting to their
new high school environment. One of my students stated that her elementary school
had 35 minute classes and that these 80 minute classes in high school were far too long
for her. I ended up giving this individual five minute breaks on a regular basis during the
week. As a result, her behaviour improved and from our discussion onwards, I had few
issues with her. Although her behaviour had improved, the enthusiasm she felt for the
project dwindled with the rest of the class as the week went on. This concluded with a
loss of student aptitude surrounding the project and its medium.
The classes lack of motivation could be interpreted from a variety of
perspectives. However, the most likely interpretation is that students may not be
interested because they were not given enough choice over the type of materials we
would be covering in class. This interpretation is supported by my past experiences,

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12

student survey answers, and the physical result of their projects by the end of the week.
In the final survey given to the class, I ask the following questions:
How much choice do you feel you had over the project?
A - None/very little
B - Some
C - A lot
D - Too much
18
13.5

9
4.5

Would you have liked to have choice over the medium (paint, pastel, etc.)?
A - No, I was fine with the medium
B - Maybe, I was fine with the medium but would have liked the option
C - Yes, I would have liked to chose the medium
D - Yes, I would have chosen a different medium
16
12

8
4

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13

Twenty-four students surveyed or 86% of the class population wanted input on the
medium/unit that they would have worked with for the assignment. The overall
submission of work by the end of the week, showed a clear lack of effort put into the
project by a significant potion of the class, roughly 66%. The other third of the class
submitted quality work which showed their commitment to the project and an endeavour
to improve their artistic abilities. This particular observation might be a misinterpretation
of student skill level, but when compared against pervious works of art done by these
students, there is little doubt in my mind. The students pervious works indicated varying
degrees of interest: some were exceptional and others much less so, but a indication of
their ability level of present throughout. In order to achieve an optimum level of success
for my students, I will need to incorporate choice into my unit planning as well. Having
student input with regards to personal and class decisions will increase student
motivation (Douglas, 2009).
I had hoped to achieve a more enthusiastic classroom environment with
motivated students invested in developing their artistic abilities. Unfortunately, I mostly
failed in this regard. I would have liked the classroom environment to be increasingly
varied with a great deal more going on. With increased project options, the students
would have hopefully created a more dynamic and energetic classroom, but the
students chose to select the simplest option rather than a variety. Despite previously
asking for more choices, the class as a whole did not opt for many of the options I gave
them. By the end of the week however, the class had overwhelmingly asked for the
ability to control the medium they would be working in. As such, I would strongly advise
educators with the available resources, to give their students a choice on what medium/

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14

unit they will be studying in the future. It is likely student engagement, motivation,
creativity, and artistic development would improve if executed successfully. It must be
noted however that student success with choice occurs when the option for choice is
presented in small sets and sequentially conducted (Beymer & Thomson, 2015, p. 112).
By Implementing the aspect of student choice from a gamified system of learning,
students creativity, motivation, and artistic development in a grade eight art class will
likely increase to an extent, given certain parameters are met. The students must be
allowed to select the content for their projects and the medium in which they work as
well. In order to facilitate this further, future opportunities for research should be guided
at the aspect of choice over curriculum/unit preferences.

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15

References

Banfield, J., & Wilkerson, B. (2014). Increasing student intrinsic motivation and selfefficacy through gamification pedagogy. Contemporary Issues in Education
Research (Online), 7(4), 291.

Beymer, P. N., & Thomson, M. M. (2015). The effects of choice in the classroom:
Is there too little or too much choice?Support for Learning, 30(2), 105-120.
RetrievedMarch 1, 2016, from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy.viu.ca/doi/
10.1111/1467-9604.12086/full

Douglas, K. M. (2009). Engaging learners through artmaking: Choice-based

art education in the classroom. New York: Teachers College Press.

Gray, Mrs. (1992, October 29). Philosophy Statement. Retrieved March 20, 2016, from
http://www.doverbay.ca/?page_id=283