Solicited 6- to 10-year olds' and adults' perceptually ambiguous drawings to which two different meanings could be attributed. Analyzed movement sequences to determine whether movements were modified in ways determined by the model's meaning. Found that drawing was sensitive to meaning at all ages. Sensitivity differed as a function of the model…

Assessed how attention toward a visual model affects children's production of visually realistic drawings. Found that spontaneous increase in attention toward models accompanied progression from intellectual to visual realism and that drawing performance of younger children was enhanced by contrasting tasks and explicit instructions. For all, use…

Discusses the advantages and disadvantages of teaching manual drafting and concludes that teaching manual drafting in technology education is no longer justified. Recommends teaching drawing in the context of the design process, including all types of drawing, and focusing on freehand techniques for ideation and communication. (JOW)

Describes how to inspire elementary students to write stories by first creating a picture, then developing a story from the picture. Using the "scribbles-to-stories" approach, the teacher models the process for the students with a think-aloud about story elements, then has students create quick sketches and generate stories out of those…

Over the past several years, the author has worked to find practical ways to bring awareness of the content for study in art to students at all levels. This article focuses on one such practical approach for teaching students about the elements and principles as they apply to a single work of art, and for developing technical skills for creating…

Information regarding enactment of drawing education legislation in the United States during the 19th century centers almost exclusively on events that occurred in Massachusetts, primarily the Massachusetts Drawing Act of 1870. Legislative history regarding the ratification of drawing education laws in states surrounding Massachusetts is available…

Del Giacco Art Therapy is a cognitive art therapy process that focuses on stimulating the mental sensory systems and working to stabilize the nervous system and create new neural connections in the brain. This system was created by Maureen Del Giacco, Phd. after recovering from her own traumatic brain injury and is based on extensive research of…

This paper reports the findings of a study that looked at the perceptions of self-competence in Head Start children of Caucasian and Hispanic background. The Joseph Pre-school and Primary Self-Concept Screening Test (JPPSST) was used to collect the needed data. Analyses of data indicate that there is a significant difference in the self-concept…

The author studied children's (aged 5-16 years) and young adults' (aged 18-22 years) perception and use of facial features to discriminate the age of mature adult faces. In Experiment 1, participants rated the age of unaltered and transformed (eyes, nose, eyes and nose, and whole face blurred) adult faces (aged 20-80 years). In Experiment 2,…

Education programs have fostered advanced levels of graphic representation ability in young children but have not detailed the specific mechanisms responsible for the accelerated growth. Research suggests that between 6 and 8 years of age children begin to observe more carefully before drawing and that observation prompts aid children's…

Children's drawings are thought to be a mirror of a child's representational development. Research suggests that with age children develop more complex and symbolic representational strategies and reference points become more differentiated by gender. We collected two drawings from 109 5-13-year-old children (three age groups). Each child drew…

Art, particularly observational drawing, plays an important role in science. Scientific illustrators combine science content knowledge, observation skills, and artistic ability. For students, creating representational artwork helps develop observation skills and an appreciation of the diverse ways organisms have adapted to life on Earth. In this…

When children draw pictures of human beings, they reveal things not only about their general intellectual and artistic abilities, but also about their awareness and conception of themselves and others. What might the human figure drawings of children with autism reveal about their images of self and other--and what might they disclose about social…

We investigated the relationships among attachment representation, social withdrawal, and depressive symptomatology in childhood. A total of 326 children aged 8 to 10 years participated in the study. Children completed a family drawing procedure to assess attachment representation, the Children's Depression Inventory and the Social Withdrawal…

This study explored whether child molesters can be differentiated from rapists in their self-figure drawings. To achieve this aim, the Machover Draw-A-Person test (Machover, 1949) was used. A sample of 41 male adult perpetrators of sexual assault, 19 rapists and 22 child molesters (all incarcerated in jail) participated in the study. Participants…