A tension exists between two schools of thought regarding the development of children's drawings. One position places great emphasis on the relatively invariant sequence in which figural differentiation comes about, and attempts to explicate the graphic logic which yields the rule-governed changes which can be observed in children's drawings. The…

This slide talk offers advice to adults to help children cope with nightmares. Children are encouraged (1) to assume power over the dream by drawing it; (2) separate the frightened part of the self from the problem-solving self; (3) let the picture describe the problem; (4) ask the picture to speak; (5) see how the dreamer's power matches the…

This paper presents a process-structural model of the planning of drawings in childhood, and reports on seven experiments investigating children's ability to plan their drawings in advance. Three constructs are basic to the model: a figural scheme or schema, a spatial mental model, and a working memory called "M operator" or…

This paper reports a follow-up study of 5-, 7-, and 9-year-old subjects who had participated in an investigation of the nature of children's and adults' ability to graphically represent expressive qualities (i.e., happy, sad, angry, loud, quiet, hard). In the original study, the use of literal representation (such as a smiling face on a tree) and…

An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis (derived from Piaget's theory of cognitive development) that the structure of children's drawings and play-constructions, being expressions of the same underlying function, should be similar. Two groups of 4- and 6-year-old nursery school children were given a testing task consisting of an orally…

Data obtained under naturalistic conditions do not support the notion of a close fit between the growth of geometric concepts during the concrete operational period and "realism" in art. Realism here refers to the ability to portray the objective proportions of a figure, to coordinate spatial relations and distances, and to represent a…

How information is represented in visual images was explored in five experiments where subjects judged whether or not various properties were appropriate for given animals. The results support a constructivist notion of imagery, and the idea that images may act as analogues to percepts. (Author/DEP)

This cross-national/cross-cultural study attempted to determine whether the development of the concept of space is universally invariant in sequence and rate, and whether the capability to deal with the world through two-dimensional reconstructions is innate or affected by experience in different cultures. (Author/RK)

The study compared the characteristics of human figures drawn by 103 normal, 101 learning disabled, 114 educable or trainable mentally retarded, 61 emotionally disturbed, and 67 gifted adolescents. Results showed that of the 22 scoring categories, characteristics unique to specific groups were obtained in six categories, while shared…

Three graphics producers were interviewed in order to explore the costs associated with production of microfiche, as opposed to the plasma panel, so that an informed selection could be made in those cases in which either technique would suffice. The three producers disagreed about the best production techniques to use, as well as how long various…

Students' drawings of the family were used as a projective diagnostic tool for analyzing social-psychological family roles of intellectually normal and superior students who have reading-learning problems. Drawings of two groups of students were presented. One was called the "Honor Five," made up of college honor students, and the other was called…

Article attempted to understand the chronically low or ambiguous status of art in the schools from historical data. (Author/RK)

The drawings of 32 poliomyelitis patients and their matched controls were examined to see whether figure drawings primarily reflect the subject's projection of psychological state, ability to draw, or some combination of these two factors. Quality of drawing may at times be the overwhelming determinant of clinical and research findings.…

In two independent studies, objective measures of self-concept and self-esteem were assessed relative to the primary indicators of self-esteem or self-concept in human figure drawings, size, area, etc. Results showed that when groups were differentiated significantly on either self-concept or self-esteem, the size of the figure drawn was not…

With the idea of encouraging students to think creatively, an art teacher suggests the use of shoes as objects for a drawing project. (RK)