Can High School Students be Motivated?

Action Research

Alyssa Mendiola

Spring 2008

Description of Strategy and Rationale

As the end of the school year approaches, students have a tendency to slack off of their work, particularly in the elective classes. Positive reinforcement has often been said to help motivate students and so it was used in a high school art classroom. The closer the end of the school year gets the more students begin to turn in their assignments late, and the quality of their work greatly declines. As a result they fail assignments, when previously they had done very well. Two strategies were developed to reward student’s efforts. The first strategy was the Artist Award coupons, which were given to students when they turned their assignments in on time. They collected these coupons then turned them in for prizes, such as pencils, eraser, markers, sudoku books, and the chance to not have to complete the weekly sketchbook assignment. The second strategy involved stickers; the stickers were used to reinforce their grades. Shiny and smelly stickers with encouraging words were placed on their daily and major grade assignments

Gender Breakdown of Students

49

30

35

39

0 20 40 60

Males

FemalesGender

Number of Students

Control Group Experimental Group

Participants and SettingThis study was conducted in a high school art class during the third nine weeks of the 2007-2008 school year. All of the art students participated in this study, the six classes were divided up into a control and experimental group. The control group consisted of the morning classes, three Art I classes; while the experimental group included one Drawing II class and two Art I classes. The control group had a total of seventy-nine students, forty-nine male and thirty female. Thirty-two of these students were freshman, sixteen were sophomores, twenty-one were juniors and ten were seniors. The experimental group consisted of a total of seventy-four students, thirty-five male and thirty-nine female. Twenty of these students were freshman, sixteen were sophomores, twenty-one were juniors and seventeen were seniors. The data was collected for six consecutive weeks.

Breakdown by Grade

32

16

21

10

20

16

21

17

0 10 20 30 40

Freshman

Sophmores

Juniors

Seniors

Grade

Number of Students

Control Group Experimental Group

Procedures and Data Sources

Coupons were awarded each time students turned an assignment in on time

Stickers were placed on their assignments for A’s and B’s

Notes were recorded in the grade book, L for late and A for absentNotes were recorded for all classes, but only

students in the experimental group were awarded coupons and stickers.

Results of Coupon Strategy

Class Number of Students

Total number of Assignments

Number of assignments turned in

Number of assignments turned in late

Number of Assignments still Missing

Number of assignments turned in on Time

Percentage of assignments turned in on time

86 late

1 28 392 293 149 99 total

13 make up

144 50 %

91 late 2 26 364 267 129

97 total 6 make

up 138 51 %

37 late

3 25 350 301 76 49 total

12 make up

225 75 %

18 late 5 20 160 139 36

21 total 4 make

up 103 74 %

72 late 6 28 392 312 111

80 total 6 make

up 201 64 %

116 late

7 26 364 230 169 134 total 19

make up

61 27 %

For each class the number of assignments turned in were totaled, fourteen for the Art I classes and eight for the Drawing II class. Then the number of assignments was multiplied with the number of students to get the total number of assignments that should have been turned in. The number of assignments missing was counted and subtracted from the total number of assignments, to get the numbers of assignments that were actually turned in. Using the notes in the grade book, the numbers of assignments turned in late were counted. The missing assignments that were late were counted along with the missing assignments due to absences. To calculate the percentage of assignments turned in on time the number of assignments turned in on time was multiplied by one hundred and then divided by the total number of assignments that were turned in. (See table at left)

Results of Coupon Strategy

Class Number of Students

Total number of Assignments

Number of assignments turned in

Number of assignments turned in late

Number of Assignments still Missing

Number of assignments turned in on Time

Percentage of assignments turned in on time

86 late

1 28 392 293 149 99 total

13 make up

144 50 %

91 late 2 26 364 267 129

97 total 6 make

up 138 51 %

37 late

3 25 350 301 76 49 total

12 make up

225 75 %

18 late 5 20 160 139 36

21 total 4 make

up 103 74 %

72 late 6 28 392 312 111

80 total 6 make

up 201 64 %

116 late

7 26 364 230 169 134 total 19

make up

61 27 %

The class with the highest percentage of assignments turned in on time was a part of the control group, third period (Art I) with seventy-five percent. The classes with the second and third highest percentage of assignments turned in on time were fifth period (Drawing II) with seventy-four percent and sixth period (Art I) with sixty-four percent, both classes were part of the experimental group.

These results show that the coupon strategy was only partially effective since a control group class was the class with the highest percentage of assignments turned in on time.

Results of Sticker Strategy

Period 1 Period 2 Period 3 Period 5 Period 6 Period 7 Number of Assignments turned in

293 267 301 139 312 230

Number 155 127 151 97 166 93 A’s Percentage 53% 48 % 50 % 70 % 53 % 40 % Number 82 83 91 32 79 65 B’s Percentage 30 % 31 % 30 % 23 % 25 % 28 % Number 24 20 23 8 22 13 C’s Percentage 8 % 7 % 8 % 6 % 7 % 6 % Number 12 10 18 2 15 16 D’s Percentage 4 % 4 % 6 % 1 % 5 % 7 % Number 18 27 18 0 30 40 E’s Percentage 6 % 10 % 6 % 0 % 10 % 17 %

For the second strategy the percentage of A’s, B’s, C’s, D’s and F’s were calculated. The number of every letter grade was multiplied by a hundred and then divided by the total number of assignments turned in. (See table to left)

Results of Sticker Strategy

Period 1 Period 2 Period 3 Period 5 Period 6 Period 7 Number of Assignments turned in

293 267 301 139 312 230

Number 155 127 151 97 166 93 A’s Percentage 53% 48 % 50 % 70 % 53 % 40 % Number 82 83 91 32 79 65 B’s Percentage 30 % 31 % 30 % 23 % 25 % 28 % Number 24 20 23 8 22 13 C’s Percentage 8 % 7 % 8 % 6 % 7 % 6 % Number 12 10 18 2 15 16 D’s Percentage 4 % 4 % 6 % 1 % 5 % 7 % Number 18 27 18 0 30 40 E’s Percentage 6 % 10 % 6 % 0 % 10 % 17 %

The class with the highest percentage of A’s was fifth period (Drawing II), with seventy percent, part of the experimental group. The second highest classes were first period (Art I) with fifty-three percent, part of the control group and sixth period (Art I) with fifty-three percent, part of the experimental group.

Observation of the students showed that the A and B students were motivated by the stickers, but the rest of the students were indifferent.

The results indicate that the stickers do provide motivation but only for some of the students.

Limitations of StudyThe limitations of this study were numerous, instead of all the students taking the same class; the experimental group included the advanced Drawing II students. These art students are already motivated because they intend to continue their art education. The age and maturity level of all the students vary greatly, as do the attitudes the students show towards the class. Some are passionate about art, while others do the very minimum needed in order to pass. The afternoon classes also have a number of special education students; a majority of which have behavioral problems. The data collected would be more reliable if the roles of the control and experimental groups could have been switched halfway through the collection process. This study should be conducted again using the entire school year for data collection.

Future Use of Strategy

The strategies seem to have potential, particularly if they are started at the beginning of the school year, so that students get into the routine of the positive reinforcement. The use of the stickers and coupons will continue in the art classes for all students, and into next year. Although the response to the strategies was not what was expected, there was marginal improvement, and any improvement in student motivation is worth the effort of the teacher.