The purpose of our research was to test the following hypothesis: 6 and 7 years old children's representations were strongly influenced by the environment they lived in. Representations are interiorised models of objects, phenomena and events, independent of present use of our senses and of the presence or absence of objects. We realised our…

Three-dimensional mind maps are a highly effective tool for providing engaging, kinaesthetic and sensory experiences for young children, with real objects used to promote the sharing of knowledge and the creation of connections. The use of real objects allows children the opportunity to connect with those objects at a personal level, thus placing…

Historically, the majority of studies on children's image making have emphasized the appraisal of children's graphic development and/or the artistic qualities of children's pictures, thereby assigning them the status of self-contained visual artifacts and objects of analysis in their own right. However, such a product-oriented paradigm of inquiry…

Andy Goldsworthy has always been one of the author's favorite artists. He admires the way Goldsworthy works with natural material and how his work distills the elements of art and principles of design so that one can easily recognize them. In this article, the author describes how he exposed his students to the natural beauty that fall has to…

Drawings of "a person" and of "a person playing music" were collected from children aged seven to eight years and 10-11 years to discover whether children's musical representations would reflect gender differences evident in musical learning and performance, and the increased gender rigidity with age found in instrument preferences. As in previous…

Set against the background of the call for sustainable development, a fostering of sense of place emerged as one of education for sustainability's chief goals. Heidegger's concept of "dwelling thinking" guided us, in this research, to look beyond the emotional and cognitive attachment to a place toward a state of mind which is not…

The current study analyzed figure size modification in different types of spatial context (C. Lange-Kuttner, 1997, 2004) for sequence and practice effects. Children of 7, 9, and 11 years of age, as well as 17-year-olds, drew figures in a series of ready-made spatial axes systems, which (a) logically increased in dimensional complexity as in child…

The importance of listening to children's perspectives has been emphasised in a wide range of recent research, using a variety of strategies. This paper explores the use of drawing as a strategy to engage with young children around the topic of starting school. It describes the approaches we have used, examines the benefits and challenges we have…

Introduction: The aim of this research, which was carried out in 2010, is the comparative study of the psychosocial adjustment of preschool children from divorced and nuclear families in the nursery school. Method: The sample of the study consisted of 60 students (mean age = 5.21), 30 preschool children of divorced parents and 30 preschool…

Concept: Few empirical studies have investigated the influence of teachers, parents and children on children's drawing experience. The current study aims to examine the attitudes and practices of these three key players that shape children's drawing experience. Method: A survey methodology was used, as typically found in previous research in this…

Globalization makes living in the world more complex. Many children live as social cyborgs attached to the digital spaces of the virtual play worlds of television, video and computer games rather than connected to their own local places. The impact of this change may well be that children lack acquaintance with their local places and may never…

Though people may like different types of music, everyone likes music. In middle school, music and art are of key importance for students to express and define what kind of person they are. In this article, the author presents an art project where students are asked to create their own guitars. (Contains 1 resource and 3 online resources.)

This study examined developmental changes in children's ability to understand the emotions expressed in other children's drawings. Eighty participants, at each of four age groups--three, four, five and six years--were presented with a series of child drawings, each expressing a different emotion (happiness, sadness, anger or fear). All drawings…

Research has shown that the study of children's drawings can shed light on certain problems, allowing many invisible sides of children's school life to emerge. Based on the results of that research, this article will study whether the use of drawings, and art in general, could lead to the reduction of social and academic marginalization and to the…

"I'm trying the least of anything to control this drawing ... in fact I want it to run away with me." says Billy, a fifth grader who reads at 13th grade level. He clears his throat and begins to sketch and his stories flood the page. This qualitative research paper looks at what free sketchbook drawing does for a group of boys ages 8-14 who…