Describes an art project where students create slab planters that are functional clay objects. Discusses how the students prepare their drawings for the planter and how to create the planter. Explains that the subject matter is depicted in a progression from reality to abstraction. (CMK)

Describes how K-8 students wrote and illustrated a field guide at Bay View School. Presents some examples from the "Bay View Nature Trail Guide Book" and includes suggestions for teachers on how to proceed in drawing illustrations and writing entries for different grade levels. (YDS)

Examined sex differences in preschoolers' and kindergartners' art generation and preference. First, researchers assessed gender stereotypicality in their drawings and preferences for pictures. Both sexes drew somewhat gender stereotypical pictures. Next, when choosing coloring book pictures to color, boys chose masculine and girls chose feminine…

Presents an art lesson that incorporates self-portraits and a familiar art technique: coloring paper with crayons, covering the colors with a layer of black, and drawing through the black to reveal the hidden colors. Explains that the students must be expressive by using the colors or concentrating on their facial features. (CMK)

Lists recommended book titles for children on art, crafts, artists, optical illusions, and drawing. Provides the address for a Web site featuring art activities and information about artists for children. (PEN)

Explores implications of the view that there is no such thing as the scientific method for biology education. Suggests fresh approaches to the teaching of drawing in biology, the teaching of classification, and the teaching of human biology by illustrating opportunities for investigating and describing the world scientifically. (Contains 32…

In assuming ethnic/national identity as problematic, we examine its dynamic aspects in the context of refugee children and their educational experiences. While the starting point of our analysis is a deconstruction of ethnic/national identity in conventional terms of language, religion, education etc., the emerging focus is the notion of boundary.…

This brief article describes one third-grade classroom's experience engaging in a lesson plan inspired by Larry Yanez's "Cocina Jaiteca" and images of the cheerful kitchen. In the lesson, the students were to draw their own kitchens based on their observations of the many details in Yanez's kitchen example, such as the calendar on the wall,…

The main focus of this article is the representation of the third dimension. The sample is sixty adolescent 14-year-olds. Our research is concerned with the study of the drawings of the same array of 3D objects in three cases: the representation of 3D objects without the presence of models (through verbal instructions), by observation of physical…

Previous research has shown that children systematically alter the size and colour of their drawings in response to the emotional character of the figures which they draw. However, these findings have been demonstrated only with children receiving mainstream Western education. This experiment was designed to investigate whether children receiving…

This author relates how she used to hate bugs but a museum visit changed her perception about them. She realized that in her panic of shooing insects away, she failed to recognize them as living models of the elements and principles of design. It made her realize that insects can provide an opportunity to teach this important lesson to her seventh…

This article shows how to explore children's perceptions of physical activity through content analysis of their artwork. Ninety-one children drew pictures of what they perceived to be "physical activity" and created a slogan for promoting physical activity in their community. Drawing content revealed types of popular activities,…

The current study focuses on data collected from children in the United States shortly after the Yugoslavia-NATO conflict. Fifty-six children in two Midwestern states were asked to draw a picture of peace and a picture of war. Two major themes, peace as interpersonal interactions and peace as negative peace, emerged from the qualitative analysis…

The use of visual representation to learn science can be traced to Louis Agassiz, Harvard Professor of Zoology, in the mid-19th century. In Agassiz's approach, students were to study nature through carefully observing, drawing and then thinking about what the observations might add up to. However, implementation of Agassiz's student-centered…

This study answers the following questions: "In what kinds of environments do preschool children want to play?" and "In what kinds of environments do boys and girls want to play?" Methodologically, the study draws on grounded theory, with data collected among Finnish preschoolers through creation sessions consisting of 15…