RUNNING HEAD: A Better Understanding: Analyzing a Students Drawing

A Better Understanding: Analyzing a Students Drawing Monica Auton University of Missouri, Columbia

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Analyzing and Understanding a Childs Drawing Educators want the very best for their students. They want their students to gain knowledge and be able to critically think about how it may apply to their lives. With an education system that is so fixated on test scores and achievement standards it is important for educators to influence R-directed thinking, and push students to think beyond the memorization of content. One way we can do this is through interdisciplinary curriculum; which is the interweaving of many content areas all focusing on one big idea. To have a beneficially enhancing interdisciplinary curriculum, educators need to have knowledge and understanding in all content areas. For the context of this paper we are focusing on the importance of art in daily curriculum. Educators need to understand the different stages of art a child could be at, and use this understanding to benefit each individual students development. Educators can greatly benefit from having an understanding of a childs art development because they can use it to increase student understanding overall. R-directed and L-directed thinking need to work together for a human to have success, L-directed thinking allows you to think in a logical way whereas R-directed helps to interpret and think critically or creatively about information. Using art in the classroom can allow students to use R-directed thinking along with L-directed and have a better understanding of the bigger picture. Educators need to gear their students for an R-directed Thinking world, R-directed Thinking is suddenly grabbing the wheel, stepping on the gas, and determining where we are going and how we will get there (Pink, 2005, pp.27). We are in a new era where computers can take over the jobs of L-

3 A Better Understanding: Analyzing a Students Drawing directed thinkers, we need students who can think creatively and thrive in this world without just content knowledge. When understanding a childs art development it is important to understand that children will mature in their understanding of art at different times and not according to age or a stage. We understand that students can have different reading levels and the same goes for art. Educators should help the student grow from the stage they are at. Educators should use stages and norms as a guideline. In my analysis I will be examining a childs artwork I have chosen and trying to dissect what stage I believe the student is at. The student artwork was given to me; I have no knowledge of the students gender, race, age, or anything of that nature. Description and Analysis

4 A Better Understanding: Analyzing a Students Drawing The drawing that I chose to analyze (see Figure 1) appears to be of a student, at

Figure 1Childs Drawing Preschematic Stage

5 A Better Understanding: Analyzing a Students Drawing one of the early stages of art development. The drawing seems to depict a skyline, a girl, a flower, grass, and some sort of animal that I believe is either a dog or cat. I presume it is a cat from the whiskers that are drawn, which can be seen close up. I determined that the student wanted the person depicted in the drawing to be a girl because the character was wearing a dress and had long hair. The student wanted the tone of her drawing to be happy and simple. It was a challenge determining precisely what developmental stage the student of this drawing is at but I presume that they are in the Preschematic Stage, Four-Seven Years: First Representational Attempts as described by Brittain and Lowenfeld (1970). I determined that this child was in the Preschematic stages from using Brittian and Lowenfelds 2007) bullet points about this stage, I was able to check of many of the points in regards to the students drawing. When drawing characteristics, the student uses geometric shapes to construct her drawing; a triangle for the girls dress, a circle for her head, straight lines that represent her arms but also is the way the student drew the grass, if the shapes were separated they would have no meaning. This picture seems to have a personal tone, it seems as if the student was communicating something about themselves through the drawing. In the spatial representation the student has a random smiley face in the center of their drawing that seems to be floating there with no real purpose. The drawing is also slightly disproportionate, the flower is drawn to be almost as tall as the girl, and the animal is larger than the girl. This student meets all the points of the Preschematic stage in regards to human figure representation, the student has drawn a human figure that includes; arms, legs, feet, shoes, hair, facial features, and a triangle dress. The girl in the drawing seems distorted, for example, the arms are longer than the

6 A Better Understanding: Analyzing a Students Drawing little girls legs for example. The students drawing also incorporates the simplicity principal which states that child to depict an object in as simple and undifferentiated way as conforms to the childs expectations for the depiction of the object, (Learning to draw: nurturing the natural, pp. 59.) The student draws the girl in what we would call a stick figure but to them it is representative of reality and what a human truly looks like. This student is obviously young and needs to be encouraged to continue drawing. Their artistic development should not stop at this level and educators should guide students to make better use of space, and help them understand how to realistically draw. At this stage children are trying to tell a story through their drawing, and draw realistic and factionary images. Visual literacy is the ability to create visual messages and to read messages contained in visual communication. This is the ability for students to understand what a picture or drawing represents without verbal or a written explanation. (Johnson, 2008, pp.74). Educators should encourage children to use their drawings as a form of communication to their teachers, peers, and others. If a child can make a drawing and pull a story from it, this not only increases their artistic development, but cognitive development as well. Children that draw a picture may want to write a story to go along with the image and this can be a great benefit overall.

Conclusion The ability to encapsulate, conceptualize, and emotionalize has become vastly more important to the Conceptual Age (Pink, 2005, pp.104.) The face of education is changing and we are learning that the importance of a test score or how much content

7 A Better Understanding: Analyzing a Students Drawing knowledge a student has isnt all that important after all. We need to prepare students that not only know the content knowledge but can connect to it and apply it to the real world. Using art in the classroom alongside other content areas will enhance students critical thinking skills and creative knowledge. Both of these skills are important for students to have a chance for success in their futures. Through this experience I learned the importance of having knowledge about a childs developmental art stage along with other content areas. Children often use art as a form of communication. As a future educator if I can understand a childs art work I will be able to better assess their academic abilities overall. Children are often scared to show their writing or reading abilities, but every young child feels they have an artistic ability. As a classroom teacher I can encourage my children through art and allow student to use it as a safety net when they are struggling. Logical and analytical abilities alone can no longer guarantee success (Pink, 2005, pp.108.) Interdisciplinary curriculum is crucial in developing students ability for success in their future. Students can no longer get by on the memorization or logical skill set, the future workers need to be able to problem solve, think outside the box, and apply their knowledge to real world situations. We need curriculum that interweaves and allows students to think about a big topic or theme on different levels. This experience gave me the tools I need to have faith that I can implement interdisciplinary curriculum into my classroom.

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References Brittian, W.L. Lowenfeld. (1970) Creative and Mental Growth. New York, NY. MacMillian Co. pp. 474-479

Consortium of National Arts Education Associations. (2002). Authentic connections: Interdisciplinary work in the arts. Retrieved from http://www.kennedy center.org/education/ceta/arts_integration_definition.pdf

Johnson, M. H. (2008). Developing verbal and visual literacy through experiences in the visual arts. Young Children, 63(1), 74-79.

9 A Better Understanding: Analyzing a Students Drawing Learning to draw: nurturing the natural p. (39-47)

Pink, D. H. (2006). A Whole New Mind : Why Right-brainers Will Rule the Future. New York, NY: Riverhead Books.