Drawings as Representations of Children's Conceptions

Drawings are often used to obtain an idea of children's conceptions. Doing so takes for granted an unambiguous relation between conceptions and their representations in drawings. This study was undertaken to gain knowledge of the relation between children's conceptions and their representation of these conceptions in drawings. A theory of contextualization was the basis for finding out how children related their contextualization of conceptions in conceptual frameworks to their contextualization of drawings in pictorial convention. Eighteen children were interviewed in a semi‐structured method while they were drawing the Earth. Audio‐recorded interviews, drawings, and notes were analysed to find the cognitive and cultural intentions behind the drawings. Also, even children who demonstrated alternative conceptions of the Earth in the interviews still followed cultural conventions in their drawings. Thus, these alternative conceptions could not be deduced from the drawings. The results indicate that children's drawings can be used to grasp children's conceptions only by considering the meaning the children themselves give to their own drawings.     

On the Narrative Nature of Young Children's Iconic Representations: Some evidence and implications

Reflection on the relationship between a sign and its meaning (i.e. semiotic activity) is a fundamental form of cognitive activity that already occurs at an early age. The improvement of this semiotic activity in young children prepares for their later learning activity. Iconic representations are one important category of signs for young children (3‐7 years old). Iconic representations (drawings, diagrams, schemes) are generally conceived of as means bridging the gap between early enactive, perception‐bound thinking and abstract‐symbolical thinking. From the Vygotskian perspective iconic representations are complex signs referring to some object (situation, action) in a special way. On the bases on the analysis of children's drawings it is argued that iconic representations are narrative in nature for young children. Children tend to supplement their drawings with verbal symbols in order to make sure that their intended meanings are maximally clear. In doing so, children learn to carry out semiotic activity and improve this activity with the help of more abstract symbols     

Children's ideas on light and vision

This paper reports a small‐scale longitudinal enquiry into the development of children's ideas on light and vision. It followed the same class from Year 4 (age 9) through to Year 6 (age 11), but the greater part of the information came from Year 5. The data were derived from the children's drawings and written responses, and from small group interviews. Care was taken to ensure that the ideas elicited were the true beliefs of the children. No formal instruction in the subject had been given, nor was any attempted. In the analysis, the children's views have been classified according to a hierarchical set of models, which reflect the strong adherence to an active vision interpretation held by the majority. The extent of progression towards the more scientific view is reported. In the introduction and discussion comparison is made between contemporary non‐scientific conceptions of vision, and the speculations of pre‐scientific philosophers. A final section presents some implications of these findings for teaching the topic.     

Doctor/Nurse,Teacher/Caretaker: Children's Gendered Choice of Adult Occupation in Interviews and Role Plays

Abstract

A social constructionist analysis is used here to examine London primary school children's job choices in interview discussions and role play groups. Children's selections are compared according to gender, and according to the different interactive environments in which they made them. By analysing their responses this paper investigates which gendered constructions appeared to prevail, and the ways in which children explain their ideas. Previous studies of children's occupational choices have found their responses to be gender‐stereotypical. This paper shows that in their interviews the children in this study chose a diverse selection of jobs, which were less gender‐stereotypical than found in previous studies. However, a clear dichotomy remained between the attributes of the jobs chosen by the different genders, and few children chose jobs traditionally performed by the opposite sex. Moreover, in their role play groups children's constructions of gender and adult occupation often appeared different, and sometimes more gender‐stereotypical, than those in the interviews.     

Young Children's Use of Surface and Object Information in Drawings of Everyday Scenes

Pictorial symbols such as photographs, drawings, and maps are ubiquitous in modern cultures. Nevertheless, it remains unclear how children relate these symbols to the scenes that they represent. The present work investigates 4‐year‐old children's (N = 144) sensitivity to extended surface layouts and objects when using drawings of a room to find locations in that room. Children used either extended surfaces or objects when interpreting drawings, but they did not combine these two types of information to disambiguate target locations. Moreover, children's evaluations of drawings depicting surfaces or objects did not align with their use of such information in those drawings. These findings suggest that pictures of all kinds serve as media in which children deploy symbolic spatial skills flexibly and automatically.     

Secure Base Representations in Children With Asthma: Links With Symptoms,Family Asthma Management,and Cytokine Regulation

Children's perceptions of caregivers as a secure base have been linked with socioemotional outcomes, but little is known about connections to physical health. We examined whether secure base representations are associated with children's symptoms, family management strategies, and inflammatory processes in children with asthma. Participants included 308 children (ages 8–17) and one parent. Children completed a blood draw to measure asthma-related immune functions and reported on perceptions of their mothers as a secure base and their asthma symptoms. Dyads completed interviews about asthma management. Analyses revealed that children's secure base perceptions were associated with better family asthma management and lower Type 2 T-helper cell cytokine production. These findings suggest that secure base representations may be protective for children with asthma.     

A Review of Children's,Teachers' and Parents' Influences on Children's Drawing Experience

In this article we argue that research into children's drawings should consider the context in which drawing occurs and that it is crucial to investigate the attitudes and practices of teachers, parents and children themselves that shape children's drawing experience and the drawings which they produce. We review the findings of seven empirical studies reporting data collected through direct observations, interviews and questionnaires from the three main players (teachers, parents and children) on the attitudes and practices shaping children's drawing. Issues covered include teachers' perceptions of the purposes and importance of drawing, support offered by teachers, parents and children for children's drawing endeavours, and possible factors that may lead to an age‐related decline in the amount of drawing children choose to do. We end the review by reporting some preliminary findings from our own large‐scale interview and survey study of 270 5–14 year old children, their parents and teachers, that provides a comprehensive assessment of attitudes and practices influencing children's drawing experience at home and at school. The findings provide further insight into the aforementioned issues, particularly children's, teachers' and parent's explanations of why children's drawing behaviour might decline with age. It is hoped that by reporting these preliminary findings some additional understanding of the context in which children produce their drawings can be gained and new areas for debate opened up.     

Children's Drawings About the Environment

Drawings by English and Mexican school children (7 to 9 years old – year three of primary education) were analysed to evaluate their environmental perceptions, and their major expectations and concerns for the future. The analyses considered whether culture and the school ethos with regard to the environment have an effect on the formation of environmental perceptions in young children. A total of 741 drawings were collected from eight schools: three in England and five in Mexico. Results show that children manifest a deep environmental concern in their pictures (37% depicted environmental problems). Children were pessimistic about the future; 54% thought the world will be in worse shape in 50 years time. Mexican children gave significantly greater importance to drawing rural places. Overall, however, children from these two countries, with significant structural and cultural differences, manifested more similarities in their drawings than differences. There was no strong evidence to suggest that children from schools with environmental policies developed a higher concern for environmental issues. Children's drawings are useful tools in providing valuable information for the assessment of children's environmental perceptions.     

The Interplay Among Children's Negative Family Representations,Visual Processing of Negative Emotions,and Externalizing Symptoms

This study examined the transactional interplay among children's negative family representations, visual processing of negative emotions, and externalizing symptoms in a sample of 243 preschool children (M_age = 4.60 years). Children participated in three annual measurement occasions. Cross‐lagged autoregressive models were conducted with multimethod, multi‐informant data to identify mediational pathways. Consistent with schema‐based top‐down models, negative family representations were associated with attention to negative faces in an eye‐tracking task and their externalizing symptoms. Children's negative representations of family relationships specifically predicted decreases in their attention to negative emotions, which, in turn, was associated with subsequent increases in their externalizing symptoms. Follow‐up analyses indicated that the mediational role of diminished attention to negative emotions was particularly pronounced for angry faces.     

Young Children's Depiction of Contrast in Human Figure Drawing: standing and walking

Children aged 4 to 10 years old were asked to draw a person standing absolutely still and a person walking very fast so that someone not present would know from the pictures alone what had been depicted. Even at four some children were able to convey the difference to a viewer and there was increasing success with age. The number of differentiating cues increased with age and there was an age‐related trend in the order in which specific cues appeared in the drawings. The ability of the children to respond flexibly to the task gives no support to notions of rigid mental representations determining what young children can draw. It is argued that contrast tasks are a useful tool for investigating problem solving skills in the domain of drawing and could be used to extend children's skill by providing an occasion for explicit dialogue about how representational information is conveyed to a viewer.     

Responding to children's drawings

This article aims to explore the issues that face primary school teachers when responding to children's drawings. Assessment in art and design is an ongoing concern for teachers with limited experience and confidence in the area and, although children's drawings continue to be a focus of much research, the question of what it is that teachers say to young children that has a positive impact on the development of their drawing is under-explored. The article aims to identify the components of what constitutes children's competence in observational drawing through a detailed analysis of a drawing made by a 6-year-old child. Connections between the teaching of drawing and the teaching of literacy are highlighted, and the article concludes that children who are able make confident representations of the visual world are better placed to express their own ideas, thoughts and experiences through art.     

An Exploration of Children's Experiences of Art in the Classroom

Despite the numerous benefits art has for children, research suggests that there is a lull in the development of expression in children's drawings during the primary school years and that many children give up on art between the ages of 10 and 12. Research investigating this phenomenon has taken an educational focus and aimed to identify potential shortcomings in the primary education system which could impact negatively on children's artistic development and interest in art. This article builds on previous educational research by exploring children's perceptions of the art education they receive. In this small exploratory study semi‐structured interviews were conducted with six children in each of the Key Stages of English compulsory education: Key Stage 1 (5–6 year olds); Key Stage 2 (7–8 year olds); Key Stage 3 (11–12 year olds) and Key Stage 4 (14–15 year olds). A qualitative thematic analysis is used to explore children's experiences of art in the classroom, the kinds of support they receive in art lessons and how art lessons can be improved. It is hoped that the exploration of children's experiences of art in the classroom will enable movement towards an engaging and relevant approach to art education.     

Making sense of science in the reception class

In the context of growing awareness of young children's capabilities, and debates about the nature of their reasoning in science, this study set out to explore the ways in which reception children make sense of classroom experiences in science. A particular challenge of the study was to develop appropriate and productive approaches to investigating young children's developing thinking. The first phase of research, reported in this paper, concentrated on the topic of electricity. A series of case studies was undertaken to examine children's learning in a classroom context. Classroom sessions were video recorded and transcribed to examine the development of children's practical competence in circuit making, and interviews were carried out to elicit children's views about electric circuits. Analysis of the classroom sessions revealed children's growing competence in circuit making through their self‐directed efforts. The interviews prompted predictions and explanations that were not offered spontaneously. Responses indicated a range of models of the circuit and forms of explanation for what was happening in the circuit. The relationship between children's practical competence, predictions and explanations was not straightforward. Analysis revealed marked differences in models of the circuit and forms of explanation in children with the same levels of practical competence. This has important implications for the ways in which children's views are assessed.     

Children's Use of Converging Obliques in their Perspective Drawings

This paper investigates children's use of converging obliques in their drawings of objects. Adults and adolescents, as well as 7‐year‐old children, were not very successful in using converging obliques in their drawings of small‐scale objects; they tended to use parallel edges. When confronted with the apparent convergence of a real road receding into the distance adults and adolescents switched to using converging obliques; 7‐year‐olds still drew parallel roadsides. Children were induced to use converging obliques, however, when asked to copy from a line drawing of a road or from a photograph, particularly when the convergence of the road in the photograph was more dramatic.     

Reciprocal Relations Between Harsh Discipline and Children's Externalizing Behavior in China: A 5‐Year Longitudinal Study

This research examined the overtime reciprocal relations between maternal and paternal harsh discipline and children's externalizing behavior. Seven hundred two father–mother dyads of children (6–9 years of age at baseline) completed measures of parental harsh discipline and children's externalizing behavior at five time points, 1 year apart. Autoregressive latent trajectory models revealed that maternal and paternal corporal punishment predicted subsequent children's externalizing behavior (parent‐driven effects), whereas children's externalizing behavior predicted subsequent maternal and paternal psychological aggression (child‐driven effects). The parent‐driven effects became stronger, whereas the child‐driven effects were equally strong across time. Furthermore, the parent‐driven effects for corporal punishment were found for both boys and girls, whereas the child‐driven effects for psychological aggression were found only for boys.     

Visualisation to support children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder learning to solve mathematical word problems: A randomised controlled trial

This randomised controlled trial experimental study compared the effectiveness of using two different types of visualisation – self-constructed visualisation (SCV) and passively received visualisation (PRV) – to help children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) solve mathematical word problems. While SCV refers to drawings that children create to help solve given word problems, PRV refers to pre-made images that accompany word problems. Twenty children with ADHD in Kuwait, aged nine to 11 years, were randomly assigned to either the SCV or PRV group, where they were taught to use either SCV or PRV to solve word problems across 20 daily one-to-one sessions. The results showed that regardless of the visualisation type, children's word problem-solving ability significantly improved. Children with ADHD should thus be encouraged to use visualisation to help make the word problem-solving process more accessible to them.     

Cooperative Learning: Listening to How Children Work at School

Abstract

Cooperative and collaborative learning are recognized as valuable components of classroom learning. However, many questions remain regarding how teachers might structure and guide children's group-learning experiences. An ethnographic case study of 29 Grade 6 and Grade 7 students who worked in groups over 5 weeks was examined to determine what was learned. Data included audiotape recordings of 6 groups of children working together across 11 work sessions, student interviews, children's self-evaluations and drawings, and research reports. Findings revealed that when working in groups, children require periods of unstructured time to organize themselves and to learn how to work together toward a mutual goal.     

Cultural differences in Chinese American and European American children's drawing skills over time

Parents and early childhood teachers in Chinese societies and the United States have had dissimilar views about appropriate art instruction for young children. The Chinese view is that creativity will emerge after children have been taught essential drawing skills. The American view has been that children's drawing skills emerge naturally and that directive teaching will stifle children's creativity. Forty second-generation Chinese American and 40 European American young children participated in this longitudinal study at ages 5, 7, and 9 to explore possible cultural differences in and antecedents of their drawing skills and creativity. Chinese American children's person drawings were more mature and creative and their parents reported more formal ways of fostering creativity as compared to their European American counterparts. Correlations showed that children who had more opportunities to draw and who received more guidance in drawing were more advanced in their drawing. For Chinese Americans, fathers’ personal art attitudes and children's Time 1 drawing skills predicted 53% of the variance in children's drawing scores four years later.     

Intention and Meaning in Young Children's Drawing

In this article I present some ideas, based on qualitative research into young children's drawing, related to the developing discourse on young children's thinking and meaning making. I question the relationship between perception and conception and the nature of representation, challenging traditional ideas around stage theory and shifting the focus from the drawings themselves to the process of drawing, and thus to the children's own purposes. I analyse examples of my observations (made in naturalistic settings within a nursery classroom) to reveal the range of representational purposes and meaning in children's drawing activity. My analysis shows that, rather than being developmentally determined, the way children configure their drawings is purposeful; children can recognise the power of drawing to represent, and that they themselves can be in control of this. I explore aspects of the process, including transformation and talk to show the importance of understanding drawing in its specific contexts. I show how children's drawing activity is illuminated by the way in which it occurs and the other activities linked to it, presenting drawing as part of children's broader, intentional, meaning‐making activity. As an aspect of the interactive, communicative practices through which children's thinking develops, representation is a constructive, self‐directed, intentional process of thinking in action, through which children bring shape and order to their experience, rather than a developing ability to make visual reference to objects in the world. I suggest that in playing with the process, children are actively defining reality rather than passively reflecting a given reality.     

Encoding Effects on First-Graders' Use of Manipulatives

The effects of prior encodings of manipulatives (red and blue plastic chips) on children's ability to use them as representations of quantity were tested. First graders (N = 73) were assigned to four conditions in which the encoding of plastic chips was experimentally manipulated. All children then participated in an addition activity that relied on the chips' quantitative representations. Children who were given quantitative encodings were better able to use the chips with meaning relative to those who played with them during the encoding phase. Children who perceived the chips as toys after encoding were similarly hindered on their ability to use them as quantities. The findings suggest that prior encodings are predictive of children's quantitative representations of manipulatives.