This article describes an integrated art and early literacy project entitled, Picture Partners". The main purpose of the project was to explore how young children create and express meaning through art. Children's responses, both written and spoken, were included because accompanying modes of expression expand the nature and content of their…

In this article, the author presents an activity she introduced to her first-grade art students. The activity, called Rootin' Tootin' Cowpokes, was built on a theme while encouraging students to express themselves through various art media. Each student began by creating his or her own wanted poster, choosing an alter ego with a nickname, and the…

This paper underlies the importance of the museum and the international scientific partnership for the promotion and valorisation of regional cultural heritage, as a condition for developing greater awareness of civilizational framework of cultural inheritance at the global level. The goal of the action research that was carried out in parallel in…

It is important to find the means by which struggling writers can find success in the English Language Arts. For students struggling with reading and writing, the visual arts may be a way of accessing and expressing their ideas and ultimately opening up a world of creative possibilities. This article explores drawing and painting as a pre-writing…

This paper describes methodology, data analysis, and initial results of a research study with the long-term goal of establishing contemporary normative data on drawings from children living in the United States. The pool of participants was composed of 316 fourth graders (mean age 9.69 years) and 151 second graders (mean age 7.56 years) who each…

This paper explores a number of examples of what appeared to be recurring symbolic expressions of spirituality found in my recent research into the spiritual experiences of children in Victorian State primary schools. These expressions appeared in drawings and in conversation. In this paper I use hermeneutic phenomenology and a multidisciplinary…

Even very young children can start observing, thinking about, and talking about elements of the visual culture that surrounds them. A good place to start is right underneath their feet--the designs on the bottoms of their shoes. Students become aware of the designs, compare them with the designs of their neighbors, speculate on the possible…

In this article, the author, an art teacher, describes how third- and fourth-graders in her art club made three-dimensional sculptural masks as their project. Students in this art club are usually kids that excel in the arts, or simply have the desire to learn more about the arts. Their projects are usually permanent to the school and become part…

Young children are experts at make-believe and delight in listening to tales of fantasy and wonder. When the author learned that the second-grade students in her school were studying fairy tales and legends, she took advantage of their natural interests and classroom experiences and introduced them to the magical, dreamlike paintings of Swiss…

This study focuses on children's experiences and the creation of "the big picture", the Universe. It draws data from an age range 6-16 and is based on 270 children's drawings of how they imagine the Universe to be, and on their answers to a number of short questions about it. Results are discussed using as a base a specially developed systemic…

Some research within developmental psychology shows a slow period of development in children's expressive drawings during the primary school years. Developmental researchers suggest that "educational factors" could contribute to this dip in development but have not explored these factors. This study explores links between educational…

The author presents three fragments from the art work of a class of American elementary school children to illustrate the imaginative power of children's thought and language.

The studies in this volume explore a number of issues in education today. One paper reveals what actually motivates teachers to develop their career, another, how to teach primary teachers to talk about visual art. Children's artworks were explored in one article to see how they relate to their adjustment to school. In another, a case study was…

For mental health professionals, art assessment is a useful tool for patient evaluation and diagnosis. Consideration of various color-related elements is important in art assessment. This correlational study introduces the concept of variety of color as a new color-related element of an artwork. This term represents a comprehensive use of color,…

This arts-based research illustrates how young children engage in "graphic-narrative play"--a personal fantasy-based experience depicted on paper--while representing imaginary worlds centered on the topic, "what the future will be like". The descriptions show how the children not only made representations, but also manipulated…