This study examines a series of children's drawings ("Draw for Math" tasks) to determine the relationship of students' spatial understanding and mathematical problem solving. Level of spatial understanding was assessed by applying the framework of central conceptual structures suggested by Case (1996), a cognitive developmental researcher.…

Teachers of the visual arts have long considered the importance of how to collect and display their students' work. Throughout history, bulletin boards have covered classrooms and school hallways neatly displaying children's art work. This article briefly summarizes how documentation functions within the Reggio Emilia approach and then discusses…

The first thing a visitor notices when entering Hollytree primary school is the art-work displayed on every wall. This paper, based on a three-year ethnographic study of the school, mobilizes field notes and interview and photographic data to probe the meanings of this visual "display". We argue that the walls (re)produce and promote…

Investigated young children's ability to represent three-dimensionality in their drawings. Preschool, kindergarten and first grade children and adults were asked to draw a cube, a house, and a ball presented in a plain form, a form differentially decorated on each side, and in both 2- and 3-dimensional forms. (JMB)

This study examined fourth grade students' representations of sport education through drawings in order to determine what students perceived as most important throughout their soccer season. The first objective was to determine whether student representations would follow the components of sport education (e.g., season, team affiliation, formal…

Examined the relationship between Kinetic School Drawing responses and academic achievement in 100 normal fifth-grade students. Significant correlations were found for a number of measures, generally supporting the validity of the technique. (JAC)

Kindergartners and second- and fourth-graders were asked to draw familiar objects to see if their drawings would be guided more by graphic principles or by the view before them. Use of graphic principles prevailed in choice of orientation, although many older children recorded other details of the objects they viewed. (Author/SJL)

This study analysed 9 to 11 year old children's drawings of tropical rainforests immediately before and after a visit to the Humid Tropics Biome at the Eden Project, Cornwall, UK. A theoretical framework derived from considerations of informal learning and constructivism was used as a basis to develop a methodology to interpret the children's…

Studied gender differences in drawings by 261 elementary school children responding to projective drawing task. Findings support assumption that children who respond to projective drawing tasks tend to identify themselves with principal subjects of their drawings. Most subjects drew pictures about subjects same gender as themselves. (Author/NB)

Sixty-six first-, fourth-, and sixth-grade children were tested for their sensitivity to the dimensions of syntactic repleteness (e.g., line variation) and expression (i.e., the feelings conveyed by a work). (Author/MP)

Investigated effects of varying doses of psychostimulant medications on expressive qualities evident in children's art products. Findings from eight children affected by attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder indicated that specific areas assessed were influenced by varying doses of medications. Data from art corresponded in positive manner to…

Jodi Esher, an art teacher at teach at a very large kindergarten through second grade school, finished a continuing ed course entitled Preparing a School Community to Cope with Crisis, and came away completely inspired to make a difference in her school. The object of her new project would be to design, then ultimately create, a mural to become a…

Drawings designed by three identical and three fraternal, normal, 6- and 7-year-old twin pairs are inspected for signs of a struggle for individual identity. Each twin must go through the process of becoming aware of him/herself as separate from the mother and must individuate from his/her twin as well. Interdependence may retard maturation. In…

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…