Drawing out the value of the visual: children and young people theorizing time through art and narrative

Abstract

This article examines the role that drawing can play in enabling children and young people to theorize concepts of time. In two, independent Australian research projects, children aged between 5 and 8 years were asked to respond to the question, 'What might the future be like?', while 12-14 year olds were asked, 'What does history look like?' There are points of connection and convergence in the analysis of the drawings and the ways in which the children articulate their visual representations of temporality to demonstrate deep and philosophical insights. This research illuminates possibilities for both the value of art practices in learning and the capacity for such approaches in schools. It disrupts narrow visions of neoliberal policy that privileges the teaching of literacy and numeracy in schools and seeks to transform children and youth into particular citizens for the future. We argue that expanding our view of the use and value of visual forms of learning and expression can contribute to a more layered and complex understanding of the capacities of children and young people. Further, this research contributes to better understanding of how students navigate challenging local curriculum and school terrain as they are increasingly posited as global citizens.

Operationalizing Historical Consciousness: A Review and Synthesis of the Literature on Meaning Making in Historical Learning

“…First, a whole subfield of scholarship deals with the ways in which students negotiate the power dynamics and divisions, which are inherent in narratives that relate to national identity and the sense of belonging in ethnic, racial, or religious groups or a wider imagined community, especially when there is a clash or interplay between official or dominant narratives on one hand, and counter or minority narratives on the other (Anderson, 2017;Barton, 2001;Barton & McCully, 2010;Epstein, 2009;Létourneau, 2017;Lopez et al, 2014;Van Alphen & Carretero, 2015;Wertsch, 2004;Zanazanian, 2015). Second, an increasing body of literature highlights the role of the affective domain in the process of negotiation, showcasing how feelings, intuition, imagination, values, relationality, and desires to identify with what is being studied shape the stories students tell about the past and the ways they interpret it (Colby, 2008;Rudolph & Wright, 2015). A third area of scholarship, though relatively marginal, brings to light the ways in which students' engage in the process of attributing significance to some stories over others (Barton, 2005;Chinnery, 2010;Kansteiner, 2017;Levstik, 2000;Simon, 2004), especially when it comes to attending to the difficult and serious facts, traces, images and testimonies, or trauma narratives that "demand a reckoning" (Simon, 2004, p. 186) because they "wound" or "haunt" us today (p. 190), thereby participating in a public practice of remembrance as a form of "ethical learning" (p. 187).…”

Gender and Geocultural Diffrences in Children’s Appreciation of Art

“…House & Rule [19] suggests that "when children interpret artworks, they develop inventive problem-solving abilities, apply analytic and synthetic forms of reasoning, and learn to exercise judgement." It is found that when children are exposed to visual arts at an early stage, it helps sensory and perceptual development which acts as a foundation for early learning [20,21].…”

Appreciation of Artistic Genres in Children with Different Perceptual, Contextual and Analytic Intelligence

“…This helps children to develop perceptual and aesthetic skills [28] and also to "develop the seamless synthesis of perceiving, feeling, and thinking, which is an important aim of education and art education in particular [29]. It is found that when children are exposed to visual arts at an early stage, it helps sensory and perceptual development which acts as a foundation for early learning [30], [31].…”