Learning from Children’s Drawings of Nature

Dai, Amy

doi:10.1007/978-94-6300-875-4_7

Cited by 17 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 22 publications

(42 reference statements)

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“…Indeed, their graphical expression is closely linked to their thoughts and feelings [10,11,32] and that is the reason why studying their depictions is considered to be a valuable procedure to better understand their conceptual development [9,21,33].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Firstly, drawings seems to be intimately connected with young children's internal thoughts and their interpretation of reality [10][11][12][13] and, secondly, drawing activities facilitate spontaneous expressivity and communication in early education, even in the case of children who find it difficult to express themselves through words [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Study on the Spontaneous Representation of Animals in Young Children’s Drawings of Plant Life

et al. 2018

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Previous research indicates that complex biological concepts may be successfully introduced in preschool age, provided that suitable educational interventions are designed for the initial stages of education. In this regard, there is evidence that a basic understanding of the issue of the ecological interactions among organisms may be achieved in the preschool years. With this in mind, this research project tests the assumption that recognising the fact that plants and animals are not isolated creatures, but live engaged in constant interactions in nature, may begin to be understood in early education. To that end, this study examines the content of free drawings that a sample of 328 children aged four to seven years of age, undertook when explaining their understanding of plant life. Data regarding the type and frequency of the depictions of animals found in the children's graphic explanations on flora is collected and read in conjunction with participants' gender and academic level. The results show that a substantial proportion of the children in the sample spontaneously drew illustrations of animals in their graphic explanations concerning vegetable life and, more significantly, some pictures show plants and animals engaged in clear contact. This is the case, despite the fact that the drawing activity had been focused solely on the issue of plant life and no indication linked to depicting other kinds of living things mentioned during the activity. The conclusions discuss the data collected in connection with the growing number of research projects that study the question of how young children begin to embrace the fundamental biological concepts that pave the way to the understanding of natural phenomena and make the public capable of making responsible choices when it comes to sustainability issues.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Study on the Spontaneous Representation of Animals in Young Children’s Drawings of Plant Life

et al. 2018

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“…Giordan and Vecchi (1988) addressed the existence of obstacles in the appropriation of scientific knowledge, and to theoretically define the notion of personal conceptions; their work emphasized the need to elicit them by means of strategies helpful to unveil what is significant for a person, such as drawing. Drawing on graphic expression is a particularly useful strategy in the case of children, since drawing is a meaningful activity ( Scheuer et al, 2002 ) that deeply connects with their personal experience, and allows them to express further significance than just the verbal ( Dai, 2017 ). There exists an extensive corpus of studies that use drawings to detect personal conceptions about scientific topics in students of all ages ( Köse, 2008 ; Margel et al, 2008 ; Anderson et al, 2014 ; Ruìz and Palomeque, 2015 ; Villarroel et al, 2016 ).…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gardens as Science Learning Contexts Across Educational Stages: Learning Assessment Based on Students’ Graphic Representations

2020

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The educational use of daily-life contexts is considered a valuable strategy to promote meaningful science learning, since it facilitates the establishment of connections between previous knowledge, personal interests, and new learning. The aim of this work is to provide evidence to support the presence of gardens at educational centers, by assessing key science topics whose learning is promoted at the preschool, primary, secondary, and university stages. To this end, we analyzed the paired graphic representations of "a garden" that students drew both before and after their participation in a garden-based learning program. Firstly, we obtained the frequency of appearance of every represented element, and afterward characterized the level of change between paired graphic representations. Sample size was of 24-19-25-29 pairs per stage, respectively. Across all stages, an overall improvement in students' graphic expression was observed, which can be attributed to their experience in the space. At the preschool stage, the garden favored the establishment of some simple cause-effect relationships which were consolidated at the primary stage, and provided a climate of motivation and affectivity that was evident in the final drawings, given the enormous quantity of details represented, the level of the finished product, and the careful combination and variety of colors. The presence of elements related to water notably increased in final graphic representations from preschool , primary, and secondary education, thus evidencing that the use of gardens facilitates an approach to responsible water management. At the university stage, students initially demonstrated good knowledge of conventional agriculture, while the gardening experience-which was based on permaculture practices-helped evolve their ideas toward an alternative model of cultivation. The most prevalent science learning across all stages was related to plant knowledge, particularly to their anatomical traits and diversity. Finally, the role of educational gardens as models for students was evidenced, which suggests the importance of teachers and institutions carefully considering which model to offer.

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“…Of special relevance in this context is the phenomenon of the spontaneous depiction of symmetrical motifs by young children. Drawing is a natural activity for most children that allows them to communicate and demonstrate their understandings, even when oral expression might not be as easy, as well as providing parents, educators and researchers with a window into children's view of the world [45][46][47]. Accordingly, studying the fact that young children instinctively represent symmetrically arranged pictorial motifs should provide developmental information in connection with the conceptualisation of symmetry in early years.…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Symmetrical Motifs in Young Children’s Drawings: A Study on Their Representations of Plant Life

2018

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Young children love drawing; this is without question. Besides that, drawings are also of interest to scholars and educators, since they seem to provide food for thought regarding children’s conceptual development during their early education. Different approaches are taken when it comes to analysing children’s drawings but insufficient attention has been given to the issue of the spontaneous depictions of symmetrical motifs in young children’s drawings. This pictorial phenomena might not go unnoticed by parents and teachers but the fact is that the scientific community has no reliable data regarding how children under 8 naturally draw symmetrical patterns to express themselves graphically. Accordingly, the present study analyses 116 drawings undertaken by children between 4 and 7 on a well-known natural issue in early childhood such as plant life. Pictorial motifs displaying both cyclic and dihedral symmetries were found in the pictorial sample under examination and the data gathered is put in perspective with the gender and educational level variables. The results of the study show that symmetry, particularly, dihedral symmetry, is a very common pictorial practice in the sample and, also, that the occurrence of symmetrical motifs displays a relationship with the independent variables considered in the study.

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Learning from Children’s Drawings of Nature

Cited by 17 publications

References 22 publications

A Study on the Spontaneous Representation of Animals in Young Children’s Drawings of Plant Life

A Study on the Spontaneous Representation of Animals in Young Children’s Drawings of Plant Life

Gardens as Science Learning Contexts Across Educational Stages: Learning Assessment Based on Students’ Graphic Representations

Symmetrical Motifs in Young Children’s Drawings: A Study on Their Representations of Plant Life

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