Behaviour & Information Technology

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Effect of colour sensing and drawing pen on

children’s colour perception and feature detection
of objects when drawing

Chih-Kai Sung, Pei-Jung Cheng & Li-Chieh Chen

To cite this article: Chih-Kai Sung, Pei-Jung Cheng & Li-Chieh Chen (2022): Effect of colour
sensing and drawing pen on children’s colour perception and feature detection of objects
when drawing, Behaviour & Information Technology, DOI: 10.1080/0144929X.2022.2071764

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2022.2071764

Published online: 06 May 2022.

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BEHAVIOUR & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2022.2071764

Effect of colour sensing and drawing pen on children’s colour perception and
feature detection of objects when drawing
a,b c
Chih-Kai Sung , Pei-Jung Cheng and Li-Chieh Chend
a
The Graduate Institute of Design Science, Tatung University, Taipei, Taiwan; bDepartment of innovative product design, Lee-Ming Institute of
Technology, Taipei, Taiwan; cDepartment of Advertising, National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan; dDepartment of Industrial Design,
Tatung University, Taipei, Taiwan

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Commercial digital drawing pens have incorporated color sensing capabilities to improve the Received 31 May 2020
interactive experience of drawing. However, despite these improvements, it remains unclear Accepted 24 April 2022
whether color sensing and picking functions improve drawing learning performance. This study
KEYWORDS
observed third and fourth grade elementary school students, who were in the “dawning Colour perception; feature
realism” stage of artistic development, to determine how using a digital drawing pen with a detection; digital drawing
color sensing function affected their color perception and feature detection abilities. This study pen; colour sensing
analyzed quantitative data on color choice, with some students directly picking colors from the
surface of an object and other students choosing colors from the app’s default palette. This
study also interviewed a focus group of experts who compared between the two
aforementioned methods of choosing colors, as used in drawings. The results revealed the
following advantages of using a digital drawing pen to directly pick colors off object surfaces:
(1) children better utilize and depict the color gradient; (2) children interact with and observe
objects and their shapes more thoroughly; (3) children draw objects’ shapes and colors more
precisely; and (4) children, being in the dawning realism stage, are better able to satisfy their
need to perceive the colors and features of objects.

1. Introduction
People begin learning about this world upon arriving in
it. Influenced by family and school education, people
adopt different methods to learn about and understand
their environments and express their feelings. Drawing
is a learning tool and a prerequisite skill for writing; it
may also serve as a visual language that can be used to
express ideas and socialise with others (Hall 2009).
With the advancement of technology, drawing software
has been added to the repertoire of children’s drawing
tools–joining physical tools such as crayons, pencils,
and markers–and is beginning to be taught in schools.
In Taiwan, children start learning to use graphics soft-
ware in the third grade. Many studies have noted the
pedagogical superiority of digital drawing over hand
drawing. Digital drawing encourages children to learn
and experience the use of different colours and media
(Huang 2002). Digital drawing encourages children to
learn through trial and error, because changing line
thickness, depth, and opacity is relatively hassle-free
(Li 2003); this improves children’s learning perform-
ance (Tseng 2003) and originality in drawing (Hsu
2012). Learning to draw on smartphones or tablets has
also become common in family settings. Scholars have
predicted that digital drawing on tablets will become a
new trend in art education (Liu 2012). When digital
drawing was applied in the creative drawing activities
of elementary school children, the children were noted
to exhibit improvements in learning attitude, learning
outcome, confidence, and drawing skills (Liu 2012;
Liu, Chen, and Wang 2014). Lee and Lim (2013)
suggested that students’ learning performance is
affected by their equipment, and that the learning out-
comes from swiping on a tablet are superior to those
using a mouse and desktop computer.
However, when children use physical tools, computer
graphics software, or mobile apps for drawing, they are
provided only with a set of specific colours for colour-
ing, causing discrepancies between their drawings and
their actual observations. Children aged 9–11 years are
in the ‘dawning realism’ stage of artistic development,
during which they gradually transition from subjective
to objective colour use when drawing. In this stage, chil-
dren attempt to select colours on the basis of their visual
experiences; consequently, they tend to select colours
that reflect the local colours of an object and stop

CONTACT Chih-Kai Sung kaikei1220@gmail.com The Graduate Institute of Design Science, Tatung University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of innovative
product design, Lee-Ming Institute of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan
This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
© 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
2 C.-K. SUNG ET AL.
using conceptual or symbolic colours (Wu 1993). In
Taiwan, third and fourth grade art classes focus on
exploring visual elements and colour perception (Minis-
try of Education 2021). However, children are often pre-
vented from fully capturing the colours they observe
because they are limited by the colours they can create
using the drawing tools available to them.
In particular, commercial digital drawing pens have
already incorporated colour picking features, and
whether such features enhance drawing education war-
rants investigation. Therefore, through observing and
analyzing children’s art works that were drawn using a
digital drawing pen, this study analyzed the difference
between drawings of a) children who directly picked
up colours from the surface of objects and b) children
who chose colours from the app’s default palette. In
doing so, this study determined how children’s colour
perception and object feature detection were affected
by their use of a digital pen to drawing objects.
2. Literature review
2.1. Importance of observation and drawing with
colours in the education of children
According to scholars of child visual education, in
elementary school students, development in colour per-
ception ability differs by stage, particularly in the third
to fourth grades and fifth to sixth grades (Gardner
1980; Adams 1989). Lowenfeld and Brittain (1987)
noted that the ages of 9–12 years is a stage where chil-
dren draw objects realistically, with specific regard to
spatial relationships, shapes, and colours—especially in
using multiple hues rather than a single colour.
As younger elementary school students grow older,
colour use depends less on intuition and more on life
experience (Wang 2006). When children learn about
colours, most teachers and parents guide children to
associate one object with one colour. This, coupled
with the limitations of teaching instruments and
materials, often results in the child having an insipid
perception and description of colours, making them
unable to perceive and express the colours they observe
with diverse vocabularies and perspectives.
Generally, colour use becomes more sophisticated
when children reach the third or fourth grade. There-
fore, guidance on colour hues and colour mixing is
more suited for fourth grade students and above
(Chan 2004; Wang 1998; Saito and Sakura 1975). The
colour use of children in this stage gradually transits
from subjective to personalised expressions, as they
start using colours to express their own thoughts and
feelings. Moreover, these children begin to associate
colour with shape through visual observations of target
objects (Lui 1996a, 1996b).
With their improved observation of colours, third to
sixth grade students mainly use colours with a clearly-
defined tone or a light tone, and they also start to notice
the presence of faint tones and the contrast between
heavy and light tones (Saito and Sakura 1975).Further-
more, children at this stage tend to imitate or copy others’
works as an inspiration for theirs. They also attempt to
use techniques such as profiling, shadowing, and overlay-
ing, thus building their abilities in perspective and chiar-
oscuro drawing (Burt 1992). Lui, a scholar of child art
education, suggested that children older than 9 years
have developed the intelligence and observational skills
to perceive spatial, temporal, and emotional relation-
ships in objects in the environment (Lui 1996a, 1996b).
Similarly, Chung (2002) argued that 9-year-olds are
already capable of sorting colours by their chromatic sys-
tems, and that 11-year-olds have developed the ability to
collate, infer, and organise colours.
In Taiwan, the third and fourth years of elementary
school are designated as the second stage of arts and
humanities education; during this stage, educators aim
to help children explore visual elements and express
their perceptions and imaginations. Because colour per-
ception and shape and spatial exploration are empha-
sised, art class curricula for students in this stage often
include activities involving colour observation, identifi-
cation of similar colours, the concept of the colour scale,
and colour association (Ministry of Education 2021).
One study proposed that, when teaching students how
to draw, teachers should employ various strategies to
guide students’ reflections, engage in feedback conversa-
tions, enhance students’ perceptions of physical objects,
use models, and answer drawing-related questions to
help students learn how to analyze and evaluate artwork
(Duncum 1999). However, research has also discovered
that most children in the fourth grade tend to perceive
an object in a single colour rather than in its tonal
change. Moreover, when these children use colours,
most of them are not aware that an object is often a col-
lage of colours of similar tones. Therefore, how colours
are taught can greatly affect children’s subjective colour
perception (Cheng 2015).
The aforementioned studies have reported that the
colour perception of children in the dawning realism
stage centres on self-observation and learning. Children
in this stage are not satisfied with merely knowing the
name of an object’s local colour, they are also interested
in the tonal changes and use of colours. Without proper
guidance, they may fail to discern tonal changes in col-
our, which can inhibit how they learn about and per-
ceive colours in their environment.
 BEHAVIOUR & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 3

2.2. Research on the application of existing advantage of a digital drawing pen is reduced operator
digital technologies on observation and drawing error, because it builds on an already established pen-
holding habit (Anthony et al. 2012; McKnight and Fit-
The use of advanced technologies in educational pro-
ton 2010; Mohd Shukri and Howes 2014; Picard, Mar-
ducts has garnered increasing attention, and interactive
tin, and Tsao 2014). Tu, Ren, and Zhai (2015)
products have transformed children’s education, learn-
discovered that when drawing on a tablet, using a digital
ing, and daily living. Maria Montessori (1870–1952),
drawing pen is more precise than using one’s fingers.
an expert in early childhood education, argued that in
Hemati et al. (2020) reported that compared with
addition to capable teachers and an adequate environ-
mouse users, drawing-pen users reported greater wrist
ment, the use of effective teaching aids, which greatly
comfort and produced more favourable experiment
aid the development of problem-solving abilities, is
results (measured by parameters). Ryokai, Marti, and
key to children’s learning. Benedetti et al. (2014) devel-
Ishii (2004) investigated the use of the I/O Brush draw-
oped a software programme called Paint with Bob that is
ing tool, which enables users to ‘pick up’ the colour, tex-
easy to learn and enables novices to quickly acquire the
ture, and motion of a scanned surface with a drawing
basic drawing techniques required for producing crea-
pen without the use of canvas. They reported that the
tive artwork. Studies have reported problems encoun-
children who participated in their study were able to
tered by children in learning to draw on computers.
create highly complex artwork with the I/O Brush and
However, some problems with digital drawing have
engage in discussions about the patterns and features
also been identified. An early study noted that most
in their surroundings, Wu, Lee, and Tsai (2017) noted
individuals transferred their hand drawing habits over
that when using a digital drawing pen, children could
to their digital drawing (Lang, Everts, and Barash
achieve their desired effects more easily through intui-
1991). Conversely, this research has found that the
tive movements involving fewer procedural steps,
inability to transfer their digital drawing habits into
which enhanced the joy that the children experienced
hand drawing potentially frustrates children. Tseng
through drawing. Lee, Wu, and Tsz (2017) investigated
(2003) and Wang (2007) also identified the use of
the use of multiple icons on a digital drawing pen
mouse as a handicap to children in learning how to
(where the icons are used to make pen or tool selections)
draw. In an experiment on fourth graders’ painting
and reported that a direct switching method reduced the
task performance using computer graphics software,
time spent on decision-making. Brooker (2018) noted
Sung and Cheng (2015) concluded that using a mouse
that novel learning activities yielded favourable learning
in place of a pen was highly unintuitive, and that
outcomes in children, and therefore recommended the
detailed drawing cannot be done with a mouse.
incorporation of drawing tools and technology into
Appropriate tools can enable children to learn
the teaching of drawing; such novel tools allow children
quickly. Aziz (2013) suggested that children older than
to be freed from the restrictions of traditional drawing
4 years are capable of using hand gestures to operate
methods, represent the actual colours and shapes of
an iPad app, which entails that a suitable tablet interface
objects in their drawing, and be more motivated to
can accelerate children’s learning. Borg (2019) observed
learn drawing. By making such recommendations,
the use of Doodlecast, an iPad drawing app, by 3-year-
Brooker sought to expose children to the actual colours
old preschool children, and noted that children of this
in their environment from a young age and encourage
age can explore colour options, draw highly precise
them to bring such colours into their drawing, which
lines and shapes, use the eraser function, and create
can be critical to children’s development of colour per-
shapes. Mohd Shukri and Howes (2017) investigated
ception. The aforementioned studies all indicate that the
children drawing on tablets, and discovered that extrin-
tablet functionality enables children to strengthen their
sic rewards can induce children to change their drawing
confidence in drawing. Moreover, Liu, Chen, and Wang
style and make corrections, thereby improving their
(2014) suggested that the rich colour choice of tablet
skills, performance, and confidence in drawing. There-
apps can more effectively pique children’s curiosity.
fore, new types of digital devices are likely to be condu-
Another benefit of a digital drawing pen is that it is simi-
cive to children’s learning. However, many studies have
lar in shape to the pens children often use for drawing,
noted that children are prone to operator errors when
making it easier to learn how to use compared with a
swiping on a tablet, because they have less finger dexter-
mouse. However, at present, teaching with regard to
ity relative to adults (Chen et al. 2012). Therefore,
drawing and colour choice is mostly limited to paper-
Huang (2002) proposed the use of a digital drawing
based drawing or computer-based drawing (with a
pen, believing that doing so would be synergetic to chil-
default palette) in a classroom, a practice that hampers
dren’s colour perception and colour use. Another
the observation of actual colours in the environment.
4 C.-K. SUNG ET AL.

2.3. Colour picking technology and unresolved Thus, the present study investigated whether chil-
topics dren (in the dawning realism stage) learn colour percep-
tion and feature detection, in relation to actual objects,
Through observing the drawings of third to fourth grade
better through interactive digital devices, specifically
elementary school students, Hsin et al. (2019) noted that
through a digital drawing pen that can pick up colours
these students’ learning was greatly affected by their
from the surface of an actual object. With an intuitive
peers, notable people in their school, their classroom,
digital drawing pen used as the medium between chil-
and their school campus’ outdoor setting. Therefore,
dren and physical objects, children could directly inter-
traditional teaching practices may not meet the needs
act with physical objects, unlike the use of a screen and
of children in the dawning realism stage, who are under-
mouse interface. We reasoned that direct interaction
going development in their perception and observation
with the object with the digital drawing pen (specifically
of colours. Habibe (2014) suggested that exposure to
in drawing with the colour picked up by the pen), chil-
actual environment stimuli produces greater learning
dren are encouraged to and perform better when they
outcomes than learning in the classroom, and some
observe, study, recognise, and remember the colours
other studies have also suggested that the timely gui-
and features of environmental objects.
dance on colour use can help students break away
from the pattern of using only conceptual colours
(Chen 1999; Lin 1973). Sobel and Letourneau (2018) 3. Research method
argued that when the learning environment is changed
Elementary school students in the third and fourth were
from home to school, the responsibility of a teacher is
recruited to participate in an experiment in which they
not restricted to simply allowing children to explore
were required to use a digital drawing pen and tablet-
and play, but in guiding them to realising that their
based drawing app in place of their usual pen and sketch
behaviour will shape their learning, thereby encoura-
board (or mouse and computer). The researchers
ging self-reflection in children. If children learn more
observed the students’ performance to determine whether
about colours in the third and fourth grades of elemen-
the pen’s colour picking feature, which facilitated inter-
tary school, they have greater opportunities to visually
action between the students and an actual object,
observe and interact with more objects in their environ-
improved the students’ ability in colour observation and
ment, thus allowing them to perceive the real world
perception. The children were divided into an experimen-
through their senses rather than through the words, pic-
tal group and a control group. The experimental group
tures, or stories of others (Hsieh and Tsai 2017).
observed a real object, used a digital drawing pen to pick
Therefore, picking colours from a default palette,
up colours from the surface of the object, and then drew
either to fill a drawn shape or to scribble, cannot induce
on a tablet using a drawing app. The control group used
children to actually observe an object’s shape and its
the same digital drawing pen but did not use the colour
tonal changes in colour. This can limit their ability to
picking function. Instead, they were asked to observe a
use colours. Moreover, even if they wish to express colour
real object and then draw it on the tablet using colours
changes from memory, they only have access to that lim-
in the app’s default palette. Data on the number of colours
ited range of colours in the palette. Nevertheless, even in
used in the drawings and the students’ drawing behaviour
hand drawing classes, children often have difficulty
were then statistically analyzed, and drawing teachers
representing the colours they observe, either because
evaluated the student’ works in a focus group setting.
they do not know how to mix colours or because of the
Through these quantitative and qualitative findings, we
colour pens’ limited range of colours. What children
could determine how the use of a colour picking digital
draw in such classes are often a copy of a picture rather
drawing pen affected how students perceived the colours
than their observation of an actual object.
and detected the features of actual objects. Figure 1
Digital drawing pens for tablets have been commer-
illustrates the research framework.
cially available for some time. Mozbii is one such draw-
ing pen manufacturer, where one of its pens has a
micro-camera at the tail that, when pressed against an 3.1. Participants
object, senses the colour of the object, displays the col-
This study chose third to fourth grade elementary
our on an LED on the pen barrel, and then transmits the
school students, who are in the dawning realism stage,
colour to a tablet the pen is synced with for immediate
for two reasons: first, the ages of 9–12 years is a critical
use in drawing. However, although it is useful, such a
transitional stage in children’s abilities to learn and
feature’s beneficial effect on learning performance has
observe (Wu 1993) and second, elementary schools in
not been investigated by scholars.
Taiwan start digital drawing classes in the third grade.

Figure 1. Research framework.
The third and fourth years of elementary school com-
prise the second stage of arts and humanities education,
during which drawing and colours are equally empha-
sised. In total, 60 students were recruited (30 from the
third grade and 30 from the fourth grade) of Taipei
Zhongshan Elementary School in Taipei City.
3.2. Experimental setup and environment
Technology products have always been marketed
toward adults, and digital drawing pens are no excep-
tion. However, an adult-oriented design is often ill-sui-
ted for children, because children and adults differ
greatly in their needs, skill levels, and expectations
(Hanna, Risden, and Alexander 1997; Gilutz et al.
2003). Therefore, when teaching children, the choice
of drawing tool is critical. Although many digital draw-
ing pens with colour picking features have been avail-
able on the market, only those of Mozbii are made for
children, as is evident in their barrel and interface
designs. Therefore, this study used the Mozbii Colour-
Pillar pen (Figure 2; Ufro, Taipei, Taiwan) as the
research instrument in conjunction with the Mozbii
Colouring Book app (Figure 3) on a 9.7-inch iPad.
The three default palettes of the app have a total of 36
colours, and new colours picked up by the ColorPillar
pen can be saved to a palette for future use. When a but-
ton at the tail of a ColorPillar pen is pushed and the tail
is pressed against an object, the pen picks up the colour
of the object and displays the colour on both the tablet
Figure 2. The ColorPillar pen.
BEHAVIOUR & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 5
and on an LED screen on the pen barrel, indicating that
the colour is now available for use (Figure 4). Partici-
pants who were not required to use the colour picking
function were told to directly choose the 57 colours
from the app’s three palettes (Figure 5). All participants
were required to draw a mango (Figure 6), and the 36
colours on the default palette (Figure 7) covered all col-
ours on the mango (Figure 6).
3.3. Experimental design
Both the experimental group and control groups had 15
third grade and 15 fourth grade students each. Students
in the experimental group were required to observe the
mango, pick up colours from the mango’s surface with
the ColorPillar pen, and complete a drawing task on
the iPad with the colours picked up. The students in
the control group used the same ColorPillar pen to
select colours on the default palette and draw the
mango on the iPad but could not use the pen’s colour
picking function (Figure 8). Because the experiment
was designed to determine whether picking up colours
from a physical object improved the students’ colour
and feature observation, the students were not guided
or required to draw realistic pictures during the drawing
process. Both groups’ implementations of the drawing
task were filmed for subsequent analysis.
3.4. Statistical analysis
The participants’ works were quantitatively and qualitat-
ively analyzed. In the quantitative analysis, which was con-
ducted using SPSS, an independent sample t test was used
to determine whether the groups differed significantly
with respect to colour usage (see Figure 9A for the number
of colours used and tonal change represented), feature
Figure 3. A palette in Mozbii’s Colouring Book app.
6 C.-K. SUNG ET AL.
Figure 4. Using ColorPillar: (a) Observing the object, (b) and (c)
picking up colours, and (d) applying the colour in the app.
Figure 5. Choosing a colour from a default palette: (a) Observ-
ing the object, (b) choosing from three built-in palettes, (c)
selecting a colour, and (d) applying the colour in the app.
Figure 6. The mango to be drawn.
detection (see 1 and 2 in Figure 9 for the colours used for the
stem), colour picking behaviour, and drawing time. In
addition, Pearson’s correlation coefficient was calculated
to determine correlations between the aforementioned
variables. The qualitative analysis involved a focus group
Figure 7. Colours in the palette.
of seven teachers, each with more than 5 years of experience
in teaching children how to draw (Table 1). The teachers
informed the students that they would be divided into
two groups during the experiment but did not mention
the differences in experimental setups. For the focus
group discussion, the students’ works were divided accord-
ing to the groups to which the creators belonged for the
focus group discussion. The focus group compared the
two groups’ drawings with respect to composition, colour
usage, realism, and skilfulness, doing so according to the
Descriptive Inventory of Children’s Drawing Achievement,
proposed by Lui (1996a, 1996b), the Assessment Criteria
for Students’ Drawing Works, proposed by Eisner (1973),
and the Assessment Criteria for Drawing Works, derived
by Sun (2010) from similar scales formulated by non-Tai-
wanese researchers.
4. Results and analysis
Figure 10 presents the works of the 60 children, The
data were analyzed through a normal distribution test.
If the data were not normally distributed, a nonpara-
metric analysis was conducted using the Mann–Whit-
ney U test (Table 2); otherwise, an independent
samples t test was performed (Table 3). Table 4 presents
the qualitative focus group results.
4.1. Quantitative analysis
4.1.1. Colour usage
The drawing task was for the children to realistically depict
the actual object. The two variables for colour usage were
the number of colours used and the presence or absence of
colour gradient. The experimental group used 169 colours,
and the control group used 106 colours, a statistically sig-
nificant difference (p = 0.00; Table 2). The greater colour
 BEHAVIOUR & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 7

Figure 8. Participants implementing the drawing task with the ColorPillar pen.

Figure 9. Number of colours and colour changes in participants’ works.

Table 1. Teachers in the focus group. Table 3. Statistical analysis of time spent drawing (*p < 0.05).
Teaching Experimental Control group
experience Weekly group (n = 30) (n = 30)
Code Occupation Age (years) class hours Time M SD M SD t p η2
A Part-time elementary 52 25 4 Time spent 202.50 58.03 154.83 91.47 2.41 0.019* 0.09
school art teacher drawing (s)
B Full-time elementary 48 22 16
school art teacher
C Part-time elementary 42 18 4
school art teacher Table 4. Results of focus group evaluation.
D Full-time elementary 48 20 16 Criteria Group Verdict
school art teacher
E Full-time elementary 35 12 16 Composition Experimental Shape was relatively complete and closer to
school art teacher an oval.
F Full-time elementary 40 14 16 Control Shape was relatively irregular, and
school computer sometimes bizarre.
teacher Colour Experimental Colours were richer, and tonal change and
G Full-time elementary 32 5 16 usage gradient were represented.
school computer Control Colours had less variety and only similar
teacher colours were used. No colour gradient was
represented.
Realism Experimental Work had greater realism.
Control Work was more imaginative.
Skilfulness Experimental Strokes were used in an assured manner.
accuracy and number of colours used by the experimental Works looked neat and realistic.
group is also evident in the drawings in Figure 10. The Control Strokes were twisted. Works were less
realistic and had unnecessary lines in the
mango to be depicted had five major colours: brown- fringe.
green, red, orange, yellow, and light green. Because the
mango’s main body was a gradient of red, orange, and yel-
low, any student who used all three of these colours was experimental and control groups, respectively, and this
considered to successfully recognise the presence of colour difference was statistically significant (p = 0.002; Table
gradient. There were 22 and 10 such students in the 2). Overall, participants in the experimental group used
8 C.-K. SUNG ET AL.

Figure 10. Works of the experimental group and control group.

Table 2. Participants’ drawing behaviour and colour usage (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001).
Experimental group (n = 30) Control group (n = 30)
Median Median Mann-
Variable min max (quartiles) min max (quartiles) Whitney U z-value p
Colour Number of colours used 3 9 6(4.75,6) 1 10 4(3,6) 132.000 −4.790 .000***
Number of students applying a colour 0 1 1(0,1) 0 1 0(0,1) 270.000 −3.079 .002**
gradient
Feature Number of students drawing a stem end 0 1 0(0,1) 0 1 0(0,1) 360.000 −1.594 .111
Number of students with an accurate 0 1 0(0,0) 0 0 0(0,0) 360.000 −2.560 .010*
stem-end colour
Behaviour Number of times colours were picked 5 17 7(6,8.50) 1 10 4(3,6) 145.500 −4.544 .000***
Number of times the object was rotated 0 3 1(1,2) 0 1 0(0,1) 170.000 −4.421 .000***

more colours and were more observant of the presence of
colour gradient. This indicated that the use of the colour
picking function of the digital pen resulted in a more rea-
listic depiction of colour.
4.1.2. Feature detection
The objective, a mango, had a stem end, and eight and 14
participants in the experimental and control groups,
respectively, drew the stem end in their work. The differ-
ence, however, was nonsignificant (p = 0.111; Table 2).
However, six participants in the experimental group
accurately presented the colour of the stem end
(brown-green), whereas no one in the control group
could do so (they only picked approximate colours
from the app’s default palettes). This difference in colour
accuracy was statistically significant (p = 0.010; Table 2).
Although a participant who included the stem end in
their drawing necessarily did so by virtue of their obser-
vational abilities, a participant who represented the stem
end in the right colour did so only through the pen’s col-
our picking function. Therefore, the pen’s colour picking
function facilitates colour perception in children.
4.1.3. Behaviour
The two variables for colour picking behaviour were the
number of times a) colours were picked and b) the
object (i.e. mango) was rotated. A single instance of
picking a colour was defined as a child using the digital
pen to pick a colour, either from the mango (to add the
colour to the app’s palette) or directly from the app’s
palette. Participants in the experimental group picked
colours significantly more frequently (p = 0.00; Table
2). As indicated in the video recordings, participants
in the experimental group tended to pick up a colour

from the mango many times until a suitable colour was
acquired, before adding it to the palette for use. In total,
they picked colours 237 times and acquired 169 colours
(Pearson’s r, p = 0.00). By contrast, participants in the
control group directly picked an approximate colour
from the app’s palettes and rarely altered their choices.
In total, they picked colours 141 times and acquired
106 colours (Pearson’s r, p = 0.00). For both groups,
the correlation analysis indicated a significant corre-
lation between the number of times picking colours
and the number of colours picked up. As for how
many times the mango was rotated, an instance of
rotation was defined as a child picking up the mango
and rotating it before putting it back down. The fre-
quency of such rotation was used to determine whether
such an interaction with the object aided the partici-
pants’ observation. As indicated in the video recordings,
participants in the experimental and control groups
rotated the object 42 and 9 times, respectively. This
difference was significant (p = 0.00; Table 2). As for
the correlation between the number of times colours
were picked and the number of times the object was
rotated, it was significant for the experimental group,
whose participants picked colours 237 times and rotated
the object 42 times (Pearson’s r, p = 0.00), but not the
control group, whose members picked colours 141
times and rotated the object 9 times (Pearson’s r, p =
0.234). As indicated in the video recordings, children
using the pen’s colour picking function rotated the
mango many times because they needed to pick the
most appropriate colour. This entails greater levels of
observation and interaction, which resulted in a greater
frequency of colour picking and object rotation. Conse-
quently, more colours were presented in their works.
4.1.4. Time
The mean drawing times for the children in the exper-
imental and control groups were 202.5 and 154.8 s,
respectively. This difference was statistically significant
(t = 2.41, P = 0.019; Table 3). As indicated in the video
recordings, participants in the experimental group
tended to pick a colour again if they found the colour
they picked up to be unsatisfactory. Consequently, com-
pared with the control group, they rotated the object
more frequently, observed and contemplated on the
object for longer, and spent more time drawing; they
exhibited keener observation and more accurate colour
use.
4.2. Qualitative analysis
The students’ works were then evaluated by a focus
group of seven teachers experienced in teaching
BEHAVIOUR & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 9
children how to draw. Focus group members evaluated
the drawings with respect to the criteria of composition,
colour usage, realism, and skilfulness, and they noted
the following.
4.2.1. Composition
The mango was represented with greater completeness
by participants in the experimental group. It was
depicted as having a relatively oval shape, which reflects
a higher level of precision, a basic principle of realism.
By comparison, the works of participants in the control
group reflected greater diversity, or rather, imagination,
in their depiction of surface texture. The mango was
more frequently drawn in an irregular, and sometimes
bizarre, shape. For example, the works B06, B08, B13,
B20, and B21 all exhibited a lower level of completeness
and realism than did works in the experimental group.
4.2.2. Colour usage
Works of the experimental group had richer colours.
They presented tonal change and colour gradient, and
they represented colours more realistically. Moreover,
every student used multiple colours to depict the
mango, and no one used any unusual colours. By com-
parison, works of the control group featured a greater
variance in colour, where colours were inaccurate and
positioned incorrectly. Furthermore, they did not
attempt to present the mango in its actual colours,
and used similar colours instead; few also depicted col-
our gradient.
4.2.3. Realism
In contrast to the realistic depictions of the mango in
works of the experimental group, depictions by works
in the control group were more imaginative, particularly
with respect to shape, texture, and colour, which were
also relatively fanciful. This suggests that the students
in the control group were drawing the colours, shapes,
and textures of the mango from past experience rather
than from sight.
4.2.4. Skilfulness
Works of the experimental group used heavy, continu-
ous, and powerful strokes, making the mango appear
neat and realistic. By contrast, in the works of the con-
trol group, the mango tended to have a twisted shape,
and the strokes that filled it were also twisted. Moreover,
the fringe of the drawn mango often had lines that were
either redundant or of some uncertain purpose. Overall,
participants in the experimental group exhibited greater
skill at drawing.
According to the focus group, participants in the
control group, who did not use the colour picking
10 C.-K. SUNG ET AL.
function of the ColorPillar pen, tended to integrate their
impressions or personal preferences into their drawing.
However, it is essential for children in the dawning rea-
lism stage to learn how to observe an object and note the
intricate tonal changes in its colours. In this regard, par-
ticipants in the experimental group were aided by the
pen’s colour picking function in their observation of
changes in shape and colour, as well as in representing
colour gradient. Table 4 summarises the results of the
focus group evaluation.
4.3. Discussion
The quantitative and qualitative results implied the
following.
4.3.1. Drawing composition
Among the 60 drawings, only one (B08) did not
resemble a mango. Because the children observed the
mango from a close distance, the participants’ general
accuracy in depiction indicates that such close-up
observation aids in the drawing of an object’s shape.
This is supported by the focus group’s conclusion that
the experimental group exhibited greater completeness
and skilfulness in their drawings than did the control
group. The quantitative analysis on the depiction of
the mango’s stem end suggested that a the use of the
pen’s colour picking function aided shape observation
and feature detection.
4.3.2. Acquisition of colouring skills
Only four drawings, all from the control group, depicted
a mango with very inaccurate colours. Among these
four, B06 and B20 were uncoloured, whereas B08 and
B21 represented neither shape nor colour accurately
(Figure 10). The quantitative analysis for colour usage
and gradient indicated that participants in the exper-
imental group used more colours and were also more
capable of representing colour gradient. Furthermore,
the focus group concluded that participants in the
experimental group were more precise in their use of
colours and depiction of colour gradient. Therefore, a
digital pen’s colour picking function helps children
learn about an object’s colours more accurately, in con-
trast to simply using the pen to select colours from a
palette.
4.3.3. Interaction with the object
Participants in the experimental group were found to
pick up and rotate the mango more frequently than
the control group did. Further examination of the
video recordings revealed that when drawing with the
digital pen, participants in the experimental group
tended to use their hands to fetch the mango, stabilise
it, or place it in front of their eyes for close observation.
By contrast, most participants in the control group
merely observed the mango before drawing it by choos-
ing colours from the app’s default palettes; they barely
interacted with the mango. Moreover, participants in
the experimental group were fussier about colour: they
used the pen to pick up colours repeatedly from the
mango until a colour that they deemed to be most
appropriate was found. By contrast, most participants
in the control group rarely altered their choice of colour
from the app’s palettes, where the colours were inaccur-
ate, being merely similar to those on the mango or based
on their impression of the mango. This lack of colour
accuracy compromised realism. Furthermore, because
participants in the control group also spent less time
choosing colours, they completed their drawing quicker.
These observations suggest that the use of the colour
picking functions of a digital pen can promote child–
object interaction and encourage children to observe
the object they are drawing more thoroughly and to
use colours in a more realistic manner.
5. Conclusion and recommendations
Because children in the third and fourth grades are in
the dawning realism stage, their learning should not
be restricted to the textbook and classroom, and tea-
chers should focus more on their observational abilities
instead. As a new technology, the digital drawing pen, as
applied to teaching children how to interact with the
environment, can pique children’s curiosity and motiv-
ate them to explore the environments and things around
them. Such exploration hones their observational and
colouring skills in a carefree and interactive manner.
Based on its findings, this study presents the following
prescriptions.
1. Children in the dawning realism stage should learn
to use colours realistically (Wu 1993; Lowenfeld
and Brittain 1987). Cheng (2015) noted that most
Taiwanese children in the third and fourth grades
were taught to either use single colours or choose
the default colours from a palette when drawing an
object, thus compromising their ability for colour
realism. We observed that when the participants
used the digital pen’s colour picking functions to
pick colours from an object, they moved the pen
across the object to detect various colours and thus
noticed more colour transitions. They drew the out-
line of the object and then divided the object into
various sections to be painted individually in the cor-
responding colours. Moreover, they attempted to

present colour gradient, were more precise in the
positioning of various colours, and used colours at
a greater number, positioning, and with greater rea-
lism. Hence, the use of digital pens aid children in
learning how to accurately apply colours and observe
objects around them. Furthermore, the selection of
colours from the app’s palette was noted to be
affected by how the colours were arranged on the
palette and how many colours there were; partici-
pants in the control group tended to choose which-
ever similar colour first caught their eye without
giving it much thought. Using a palette with fixed
colours prevented the children from expressing col-
our variations or learning to identify differences in
colours. Therefore, allowing a child to use the colour
picking functions of a digital pen ensures that a lim-
ited palette will not compromise the child’s colour
perception. Through such an acquisition of accurate
colours, the needs of children in the dawning realism
stage are satisfied, where they can break away from
the mindset of using only monographic colours of
an object.
2. In Taiwan, computer drawing classes in elementary
schools are mostly conducted in classroom settings;
students draw a picture from their imagination or
by referencing a picture of an object. Because inter-
acting with the real-world environment is conducive
to children’s learning (Habibe 2014), studies on digi-
tal drawing pens have mostly focused on the operat-
ing of such pens (Wu, Lee, and Tsai 2017; Lee, Wu,
and Tsz 2017) or comparing them with computer
mouse (Tu, Ren, and Zhai 2015; Hemati et al.
2020). By contrast, the present study had the stu-
dents use digital drawing pens to retain their pen-
holding habits (Huang 2002), where the students
first observed objects up-close and drew these objects
on their tablets. The objects drawn were similar to
the actual objects, and the results showed that chil-
dren who drew using digital drawing pens (that
allowed the selection of colours) outperformed
those who used iPads (that also allowed the selection
of colours) in colour usage and object interactions.
The greater realism due to the digital pen and its col-
our picking function indicate that such a pen, and
such a function, facilitate observation and environ-
mental interaction. This new technology corre-
sponds to the proposition of Duncum (1999), who
advocates that teachers use teaching dialogues to
guide students to focus on the features of objects
that they are drawing.
3. The drawings of elementary school students are
greatly affected by the individuals, objects, and
events they encounter in school (Hsin et al. 2019),
BEHAVIOUR & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 11
and firsthand experience is the optimal medium of
learning (Hsieh and Tsai 2017). Ryokai, Marti, and
Ishii (2004) conducted an experiment involving the
I/O Brush drawing tool, which enables children to
explore the colours in their surroundings by requir-
ing them to move around or use the object of their
choice for colour picking; however, their experiment
was not designed to evaluate children’s observations
of a single object. In the present study, the use of a
digital pen’s colour picking function was noted to
encourage students to manipulate the mango (pick-
ing it up, stabilising it, and rotating it) to pick the
most appropriate colour. This interaction with the
object enabled the students to capture more realistic
shapes and colours (especially colour gradients) in
their artwork. Furthermore, the colour-capturing
function of the digital drawing pen enabled easy
and unrestricted selection of colours similar to
those of the object. The participants in the control
group were unable to express the colours they
observed because they were limited to the colours
on the default palette; they could only select the col-
ours that were closest to those they observed or col-
ours that they liked, leading to a subjective depiction
of the object’s shape and colours. Therefore, in chil-
dren, deeper observations and interactions with a
real object when drawing improve overall realism
in colour and shape. Every child differs in their col-
our perceptions. Palettes with limited colour options
prevent children from fully expressing their colour
perceptions, whereas digital drawing pens can pro-
vide them with more comprehensive colour options.
The drawings in this study indicated that most chil-
dren did not have a clear, prior understanding of colour
gradient. However, participants using the colour pick-
ing function were more likely to depict colour gradient,
whereas most participants who did not drew blotches of
single colours. Notably, no participant from either
group attempted colour mixing. This is consistent
with Wu (2006), who argued that third and fourth
grade students should learn about colour tones and col-
our mixing, lest they should be unable to develop out of
the monochromatic expression of preferred or concep-
tual colours.
In summary, developers of digital drawing pens
should focus on improving colour picking functionality,
particularly in allowing for 2–3 colours to be picked and
mixed. These improvements will promote children’s
colour perception, teach children to recognise colour
tones and mix colours, and facilitate child–environment
interaction. Through closely observing objects and
12 C.-K. SUNG ET AL.
recognising the changes in colour tones and mixed col-
ours, children’s colour perception will be improved.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the teachers and students of Taipei
Zhongshan Elementary School for participating in this study.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Funding
The author gratefully acknowledges the support provided by
the Ministry of Science and Technology under Grant No.
MOST 110-2410-H-004 -149 -MY2.
ORCID
Chih-Kai Sung http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4446-4870
Pei-Jung Cheng http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0956-4761
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