When first studying children's artistic development, many preservice teachers feel amazed as they learn students' artistic capabilities and see how students can thrive under the guidance of effective art educators. Teaching a standards-based art curriculum skillfully and with care requires art educators to be familiar with developmentally…

Researcher and professionals that started researching about brains since 1930 believe that left brain is a rational brain, which is tightly related with the IO, rational thinking, arithmetic thinking, verbal, segmental, focus, serial (linear), finding the differences, and time management, Meanwhile right brain is the part of brain that controlled…

This article reports on the most recent phase of an ongoing research program that examines the artistic graphic representational behavior and paintings of children between the ages of four and seven. The goal of this research program is to articulate a contemporary account of artistic growth and to illuminate how young children's changing…

This paper asserts the importance of allowing children to use their own perceptions in developing their imagination and drawing skills. It discusses why children draw, and how teachers can foster creativity, create appropriate activities, and evaluate the child's progress. Children draw to symbolically explore their worlds, and that by the age of…

Looks at individuality, in the sense of a personal expressive idiom or style, in children's art production. Shows that early stylistic differences manifest in children's art making correspond to basic cognitive/affective learning processes. Outlines implications for ideas about child development. (DSK)

Discusses the role of Montessori education in developing lifelong skills for creativity. Considers self-expression the key to recovering human authenticity and spirit. Urges teachers and parents to develop this inner self in themselves and their children as a barrier against contemporary materialism, hurried life, and alienation caused by…

Presents a developmental view of the creative process based on Montessori principles. Discusses the preschool child's need for activity, exploration at an individual pace, and connection between the self and the universe. Considers ways to nurture a child's self-actualizing creativity. (JPB)

Studies the employment of collage by young children as a symbolic activity in organized educational settings. Establishes a taxonomy of collage types and observes their development in two kindergarten classes. Concludes that collage promotes the acquisition of a flexible sequence of skills and reflects a range of abilities and approaches. (DSK)

Examines the relationship between children's artistic development and issues of learning. Categorizes undergraduate elementary education students' responses to an article on artistic development based on their own experiences. Summarizes the types of student reactions, and suggests implications for instructional practices. (DSK)

More than 300 citations of books, articles, and conference papers published primarily within the last 20 years are listed with brief descriptions. The works include discussions of developmental theory, art education, art criticism, aesthetics, and philosophy of science as well as experimental studies. Research topics cover aspects of cognition…

Profiles Sherry Stidolph and her ongoing efforts to bring Shakespeare to children. Stidolph uses her knowledge of child development to decide which plays to choose and which elements to emphasize. Includes drawings by the children illustrating scenes from the plays. (MJP)

Argues that children need play time to explore the world because it is valuable, irreplaceable, spontaneous, and provides situations where children can learn with all their senses. Examines play in terms of its role in exploration, imagination, creative activity, work, learning, knowledge expansion, art, and the culture of children. (Author/SD)

This final report describes the activities and outcomes of a 3-year Expressive Arts Outreach project at Western Illinois University to integrate and replicate the Expressive Arts (EA) model based on developmentally appropriate experiences in the expressive arts, with an emphasis on visual arts, into early childhood programs for children (ages 3-8)…