In this study, we propose to analyse students' drawings using the Semiotic Cultural Psychological Theory (SCPT), a socio-cultural psychological model that integrates semiotics with dynamic systems theory. According to the SCPT framework, students-generated drawings can be analysed in terms of generalised meanings, i.e., implicit assumptions about…

Despite a decline in sexist language, traditional gender beliefs remain embedded in the scientific literature on reproductive biology and consequently continue to distort knowledge, encumber the learning process, and reinforce gender essentialism. This article analyzes the enduring force of gender stereotypes in Italian middle school science…

The ways in which children from different countries view and draw scientists have been investigated in numerous studies. The present study explored Italian primary school students' images of scientists and their work, with a particular focus on gender and grade level differences. A sample of 686 students (368 girls and 318 boys) from the first (n…

We report the results of a study on high school student difficulties in drawing the magnetic field lines for two magnets facing each other. Student difficulties were investigated by means of a predict-observe-explain activity. Our data confirm some of the previous results from the educational research literature on student difficulties in drawing…

The construction of self, a fundamental process for development. Twins, as they grow together, may encounter greater difficulties in individuation process. The present study aims to investigate the construction of the image of the self and of the self with its own twin/sibling through the drawing of the human figure and to highlight any…

Pediatric hospitalization is a common experience that may increase children's sense of isolation and impinge on their social-emotional wellbeing. Educators and medical practitioners could minimize these negative effects of hospitalization if they were able to listen to the voices of the children and, therefore, better meet their needs. This…

Can a bodily engagement with music affect the process of musical meaning formation and, as such, affect children's graphic representation of music? To address this question a comparative study was conducted in which primary school children (n = 52; age = 9-10) without any formal music education participated in a verbal-based (describe the music…

Recent findings in music research are increasingly confirming the embodied nature of music cognition. Assuming that a bodily engagement with music may affect the children's musical meaning formation, we investigated how young children's interaction with music, based on verbal description after listening versus body movement description while…

This paper documents the drawings, installations, video works, and performances that were produced as part of Bryan McCormack's "Yesterday/Today/Tomorrow" ("Traceability is Credibility") conceptual work at the 2017 Venice Biennale in collaboration with Henry Bell and undergraduate students at Sheffield Hallam University. It…

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Astronomy Education Research.] Several decades of research have contributed to our understanding of students' reasoning about astronomical phenomena. Some authors have pointed out the difficulty in reading and interpreting images used in school textbooks as factors that may justify the persistence…

The methods and music of American Professor Joan Yakkey have had an international influence on the music education of elementary and secondary students. Yakkey, a graduate of the High School of Performing Arts and Queens College in New York City, went to Italy to teach music in the 1970's. Italy, a country historically rich in music, was…

Objective: The high incidence of foodborne disease among children suggests the value of health promotion. Children are a high-risk group so far as foodborne disease is concerned, although they may be hard to reach with training programmes. This research investigated the use of drawings, compared with questionnaires, to evaluate the impact of a…

Research points to the importance of sociocultural and developmental experiences in understanding children's social supports. The present study examines qualitative themes about children's social supports, derived from a multicountry study of 604 school-aged children (ages 4-19 years). Using the ecomap (a child-generated paper-and-pencil drawing…

The aim of the present research is to assess the developmental pattern of the metacognitive knowledge of attention in Italian primary school students. Data were collected from 95 pupils divided into two age groups: the first (6-8 years) and second primary school cycles (8-10 years). The children were asked to perform two specific thematic drawings…

Different schools apply different educational approaches, and different learning concepts interpret knowledge in different ways. The two dominant perspectives classify learning as the acquisition of knowledge, or as participation in school practices. In order to support teachers in choosing the educational method that best fits their teaching…