The Role of Self-efficacy and Academic Motivation in Predicting Creativity of Architecture Students (Study Sample: Faculty of Architecture, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, )

Problem solving and creativity are at the highest level of human cognitive activities and are considered as the most valuable educational goals. In recent years, the Iranian educational system has emphasized on activating learners in learning skills. The purpose of activating learners is to promote their creativity. Nowadays, university graduates are increasingly finding a global position and providing educational services in the international context, which requires the acquisition of international characteristics and qualifications. In fact, the main goal of all educational institutions is to create problem-solving ability and creativity in students. Architectural design courses play a pivotal role in education of architectural engineering students, and its importance is not hidden from anyone, either in terms of empirical knowledge or theories-related methods. Most architectural processes require initiative creativity, which requires knowledge and education; because in architectural design workshops, the sciences learned in other courses are combined to help students to identify creative answers. In relation to the factors affecting creativity, some experts have a set of cognitive factors (intelligence and talent), environmental variables (political, cultural, economic and social factors) and personality variables (such as five personality factors, intrinsic motivation, self-leadership characteristics, etc.) have been considered important. The purpose of this study is to determine the role of self-efficacy and academic motivation in predicting the creativity of architecture students in designing therapeutic spaces. The present study was a correlational study and the statistical population contained all of the semester 7 architecture students of Mohaghegh Ardebili University in the first half of the academic year 1396-1397, which among them, 30 students were selected using census sampling method. The mean age of the statistical population was 21.83 years and the standard deviation was 0.98. Among the 30 students who were studied, 7 (23.3%) were men and 23 (76.7%) were women. To measure academic self-efficacy, academic motivation, and creativity, the self-efficacy and academic motivation subscales, respectively, derived from the Dartaj Academic Performance Questionnaire (2004) and the Charles Schaeffer Creativity Questionnaire. The relationship between three subscales of motivation, self-efficacy and creativity was assessed using Pearson correlation test. The coefficient between academic motivation and students' creativity is 0.433 which indicates a direct relationship between these two items on average. Significant level of this comparison indicates a significant relationship (P = 0.014) between these two variables. Also the results of multiple regression tests showed that among two subscales of self-efficacy and motivation, this is only motivation that significantly predicts the creativity of architecture students. With one unit increase in motivation, a 0.45 unit increase in creativity will occur. According to psychologists, motivation is one of the key concepts and is used to explain the different levels of performance. Motivation is one of the main causes of behavior and can be defined as the driving force of human activities and its directing factor. There is a strong link between the personal motivation and the creativity, which is determined by the social environmental factors or at least certain aspects of the environment.