Child’s Drawing Analysis
The drawing I am an analyzing is a child’s drawing of what appears to be a turkey or a peacock. The drawing of includes many geometric shapes such as circles for the eyes, body, and feet. The nose is triangular and has horizontal lines running across it. The feathered back of the turkey is very undetailed and is merely a half circle with the body of the turkey being located in the center of the diameter. The legs and feet of the turkey are drawn in a fashion those children of all background automatically draw: circles for the feet and a vertical line for the legs. Based on the drawing, the knowledge I have gained from the readings and the guidelines of development I would put this child in the pre-schematic stage.
The book Creative and Mental Growth written by W.L. Britain and V. Lowenfeld discusses how children’s drawing is a developmental process with several stages involved. The second stage, the pre-schematic stage, has many items under its umbrella. One of these items is the recognition and use of geometric shapes. According to Britain and Lowenfeld, a child can copy a square at age 4 and a triangle at age 5. Children in the pre-schematic stage also use geometric shapes to represent different objects in their drawings. However, they are single units that make up the whole object, only when they are combined together. The artist of this picture clearly demonstrates the ability to draw a triangle and a circle. However, if you were to remove the circles and triangles from this drawing they would lose their meaning (i.e. the triangle represents the nose). According to Mary Erickson and Bernard Young authors of the article What Every Educator Should (But Maybe Doesn’t) Know “children’s ability to create drawings and to understand art develops in a parallel fashion to changes in their cognitive, emotional, social, and physical growth” (Erikson and Young, 1996, 38). Therefore, the pre-schematic stage is where the first record of a child's thinking process occurs. They begin to draw such things as people in a simple form of a circle and lines to represent the body parts. Children continually search for new concepts so symbols constantly change. Children also demonstrate knowledge of conservation. Children have the ability to repeatedly apply a configuration in numerous ways (Wilson & Wilson, 1982). In this drawing the child does so with his turkey’s head which is identical to a human head. However, when looking to Lowenfeld’s next stage of artistic development, I think it is clear that this child is not yet in the schematic stage. This picture has no background and no establishment of a base line and a skyline. While there is no overlapping of objects in the drawing and there is a definite organization of the subjects and the objects in the drawing are spatially related. However, the turkey/peacock is just alone, floating about on the page. As far as size proportion goes, this child seems to be above the pre-schematic stage because all the body parts are perfectly proportioned.
A huge component of art integration is the teachers knowing and understand the stages of art development. If he or she has an understanding then art can be a fantastic integration too. However, if he or she does not have an understanding lessons may be too difficult for certain students or the assessments may be graded unfairly. Developmentally, school aged children between the ages of 6-12 are at a stage where they are intrinsically wishing to explore. Within the Stages of Development defined by Psychologist Erik Erikson, the stage between the ages of six to 12 is called School Aged. As a part of this stage, children are shifting their focus from their parents to the school and neighborhood as they discover more about their world. Children within this age group are inquisitive and are capable of creating numerous skills and knowledge (Cramer, 1997). Integrating art into the lives of children within this stage gives students an interactive way to absorb new knowledge as well as give the students the ability to fine tune their social interaction skills.
In conclusion, as a future educator I think it is highly important to let inquisitive students explore curriculum in both traditional and non-traditional ways. One of the ways art could easily be integrated into the general education classroom is as a means of assessment. If a teacher understands the stages of art development he or she can use that as a tool to assess a student’s understanding of a topic. Regardless of the subject area, I think that it is essential to never underestimate your students’ ability to do something. According to the article Learning to draw: nurturing the natural children are born with ability to draw within Lowenfeld’s stage. The way certain aged children form objects seems to “come from within the child rather than from some external influence” (Wilson and Wilson, 1982, 57-58). That being said, I believe that using artwork as a form of assessment is acceptable in the classroom. As a teacher, you must be aware of which artist development stage your students are in and match your expectations and standards for grading accordingly. Some children are naturally more artistic than others, but as a general population students will be able to meet the tasks within a stage. For example, children in the pre-schematic stage have the ability to make triangles at age 5. Therefore, expecting your first grade students to include a triangle as part of a drawing is reasonable. On the reverse side of things, if a teacher is not aware of children’s art development he or she may be asking too much a certain age group. For example, if a teacher has a classroom of first graders and then asks them to draw a picture to explain a social studies concept he or she should not be expecting the first grade students to include shading or shadow. The ability to shade or shadow a picture (without being prompted) does not occur until the adolescent art stage (children aged fourteen to seventeen years) (Brittain & Lowenfeld, 1970). The most important part of teaching any subject is meeting your students where they are at and teaching them at level that they understand.
References
Brittain, W.L. & Lowenfeld, V. (1970). Creative and mental growth. New York, NY: Macmillan
Co., 22-25, 474-479.
Cramer, C. (1997). Erik erikson's 8 stages of psychosocial development. Retrieved from
http://web.cortland.edu/andersmd/ERIK/welcome.HTML
Erickson, M. & Young, B. (1996). What every educator should (but maybe doesn’t) know.
School Arts, 40-42.
Wilson, M. & Wilson, B. (1982). Learning to draw: nurturing the natural. Engle Cliffs, NY, 39-
47.
The book Creative and Mental Growth written by W.L. Britain and V. Lowenfeld discusses how children’s drawing is a developmental process with several stages involved. The second stage, the pre-schematic stage, has many items under its umbrella. One of these items is the recognition and use of geometric shapes. According to Britain and Lowenfeld, a child can copy a square at age 4 and a triangle at age 5. Children in the pre-schematic stage also use geometric shapes to represent different objects in their drawings. However, they are single units that make up the whole object, only when they are combined together. The artist of this picture clearly demonstrates the ability to draw a triangle and a circle. However, if you were to remove the circles and triangles from this drawing they would lose their meaning (i.e. the triangle represents the nose). According to Mary Erickson and Bernard Young authors of the article What Every Educator Should (But Maybe Doesn’t) Know “children’s ability to create drawings and to understand art develops in a parallel fashion to changes in their cognitive, emotional, social, and physical growth” (Erikson and Young, 1996, 38). Therefore, the pre-schematic stage is where the first record of a child's thinking process occurs. They begin to draw such things as people in a simple form of a circle and lines to represent the body parts. Children continually search for new concepts so symbols constantly change. Children also demonstrate knowledge of conservation. Children have the ability to repeatedly apply a configuration in numerous ways (Wilson & Wilson, 1982). In this drawing the child does so with his turkey’s head which is identical to a human head. However, when looking to Lowenfeld’s next stage of artistic development, I think it is clear that this child is not yet in the schematic stage. This picture has no background and no establishment of a base line and a skyline. While there is no overlapping of objects in the drawing and there is a definite organization of the subjects and the objects in the drawing are spatially related. However, the turkey/peacock is just alone, floating about on the page. As far as size proportion goes, this child seems to be above the pre-schematic stage because all the body parts are perfectly proportioned.
A huge component of art integration is the teachers knowing and understand the stages of art development. If he or she has an understanding then art can be a fantastic integration too. However, if he or she does not have an understanding lessons may be too difficult for certain students or the assessments may be graded unfairly. Developmentally, school aged children between the ages of 6-12 are at a stage where they are intrinsically wishing to explore. Within the Stages of Development defined by Psychologist Erik Erikson, the stage between the ages of six to 12 is called School Aged. As a part of this stage, children are shifting their focus from their parents to the school and neighborhood as they discover more about their world. Children within this age group are inquisitive and are capable of creating numerous skills and knowledge (Cramer, 1997). Integrating art into the lives of children within this stage gives students an interactive way to absorb new knowledge as well as give the students the ability to fine tune their social interaction skills.
In conclusion, as a future educator I think it is highly important to let inquisitive students explore curriculum in both traditional and non-traditional ways. One of the ways art could easily be integrated into the general education classroom is as a means of assessment. If a teacher understands the stages of art development he or she can use that as a tool to assess a student’s understanding of a topic. Regardless of the subject area, I think that it is essential to never underestimate your students’ ability to do something. According to the article Learning to draw: nurturing the natural children are born with ability to draw within Lowenfeld’s stage. The way certain aged children form objects seems to “come from within the child rather than from some external influence” (Wilson and Wilson, 1982, 57-58). That being said, I believe that using artwork as a form of assessment is acceptable in the classroom. As a teacher, you must be aware of which artist development stage your students are in and match your expectations and standards for grading accordingly. Some children are naturally more artistic than others, but as a general population students will be able to meet the tasks within a stage. For example, children in the pre-schematic stage have the ability to make triangles at age 5. Therefore, expecting your first grade students to include a triangle as part of a drawing is reasonable. On the reverse side of things, if a teacher is not aware of children’s art development he or she may be asking too much a certain age group. For example, if a teacher has a classroom of first graders and then asks them to draw a picture to explain a social studies concept he or she should not be expecting the first grade students to include shading or shadow. The ability to shade or shadow a picture (without being prompted) does not occur until the adolescent art stage (children aged fourteen to seventeen years) (Brittain & Lowenfeld, 1970). The most important part of teaching any subject is meeting your students where they are at and teaching them at level that they understand.
References
Brittain, W.L. & Lowenfeld, V. (1970). Creative and mental growth. New York, NY: Macmillan
Co., 22-25, 474-479.
Cramer, C. (1997). Erik erikson's 8 stages of psychosocial development. Retrieved from
http://web.cortland.edu/andersmd/ERIK/welcome.HTML
Erickson, M. & Young, B. (1996). What every educator should (but maybe doesn’t) know.
School Arts, 40-42.
Wilson, M. & Wilson, B. (1982). Learning to draw: nurturing the natural. Engle Cliffs, NY, 39-
47.