Examines the use of iconic representations in young children from a Vygotskian perspective. Uses analysis of children's drawings as basis for argument that iconic representations are narrative in nature: children supplement drawings with verbal symbols to ensure that intended meanings are clear and thereby learn to carry out semiotic activity and…

Explores whether children with AD/HD respond differently to a specific art directive. Using the Formal Elements Art Therapy Scale to evaluate the drawings, results indicate three elements that would most accurately predict the artists into the AD/HD group: color prominence, details of objects and environments, and line quality. (Contains 29…

Presents an overview of factors in the development of children's art and a theoretical rationale for elementary art education. (SJL)

The House-Tree-Person test is based on the premise that unconscious aspects of the personality are exposed through the person's drawings of familiar items. Children who have experienced sexual abuse are often hesitant to respond to direct questioning about this experience. Researchers have studied the H-T-P to determine if these children produce…

Examines the community mural movement as an educational activity, reviewing the history of the modern mural movement, noting its democratic direction, and concluding that community murals can potentially educate artists and nonartists. Modern murals have demonstrated a vast capacity to expand awareness of the struggles of oppressed people. (SM)

Discusses Kellogg's four distinguishable stages of children's early art development as reflected in scribble art. (MP)

Notes widespread use of human figure drawings to describe and predict psychological functioning. Reviews data-based studies on figure drawings and concludes that there is little support for their validity or for their use as devices to assess personality, behavior, emotion, or intellectual functioning. Presents ease of administration and anecdotal…

This paper is concerned with the unfolding of human marks, beginning with scribbling, and their contribution to developing literacy. The paper argues that children's scribbles reveal a neural substrate destined for marks and influence that substrate significantly, cuing what is distinctly human in linguistic behavior and consciousness, or symbolic…

Discusses art development in young children. Correlates findings from play research with theories about the development of the creative process in children. Discusses implications for curriculum and teaching methods. (RJC)

This paper discusses research methods used to examine children's art. The first part of the paper presents information on four theoretical approaches to the examination of children's art and discusses the teacher's role within that approach: (1) psychological approach, using art to discover the child's inner conflicts; (2) behavioral psychological…

The author reviews cross-cultural studies of children's art, with emphasis on the problems entailed in such research. He draws from these studies implications for further research in children's artistic development. (SJL)

This article reviews the major principles of Piaget's stage theory of cognitive development (equilibrium, structure, and scheme); outlines his two stages that best characterize elementary children (preoperational thought and concrete operations); and describes features of the child's artistic growth during these two stages. Questions needing…

Investigates the use of three art-based instruments using imagery that measure children's cognitive development. Suggests that Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices, the British Picture Vocabulary Scale, and the Naglieri Draw-A-Person Test would be useful tools for art therapists to more systematically view children's drawings from a developmental…

The role of psychologist and educator Leta Hollingworth (1886-1939) in studying the development of artistic talent in gifted individuals is examined in context of her research and current research related to general intellectual and special abilities and the appropriate education of students talented in the visual arts. (DB)

Literature on children's drawing was reviewed for the purpose of illuminating issues of developmental stages, differences in development, perceptual problems, and instructional methods that influence learning in children's drawings. A glossary of terms used in the literature was compiled. Conclusions were drawn from the studies reviewed with a…