Reports on a study of seven preschool children engaged in drawing activities with traditional media (crayons, felt-tip pens, etc.) and a mouse-driven computer paintbox program. Finds that the same basic media-independent strategies are used when children try to establish a relationship between their mark-making actions and the resultant effects.…

Recommends the use of freehand maps to teach geographic concepts. Argues that they can be used to highlight selected information. Contends that the technique can be used effectively by students and teachers. (CFR)

Discusses attempts to correct perceptions of scientists and science among fourth-grade students. Efforts to advance the view that girls and people from various ethnic backgrounds could become scientists met with some success. After they were presented with information on a range of scientists, students drew pictures of scientists that were more…

Discusses the history and reasons for community-based mural art in North America. Describes the steps involved in a community-based mural project for students in which they work in groups to develop a mural theme and a sketch of the mural, paint the mural, document the process, and then present the mural to the class. (CMK)

Describes two sixth-grade lessons on the work of M. C. Escher: (1) the first lesson instructs students on tessellations, or tiles that interlock in a repeated pattern; (2) the second lesson explores Escher's drawings of transitions from two- to three-dimensional space. (DSK)

Examined the mechanisms of peer influences on fifth-grade children's drawings. Observed the socio-collaborative processes by which children influence each other's artistic styles; found gender differences in content, technical quality, and meaning. (JPB)

The authors examined aspects of reliability and validity of the Goode-nough-Harris Draw-A-Person Test (DAP; D. B. Harris, 1963). The participants were 115 seven- to nine-year-old students attending regular or special education schools. Three judges, with a modest degree of training similar to that found among practicing clinicians, rated the…

The development of children's cosmologies was investigated over a 13-year period, using multi-modal, in-depth interviews with 686 children (217 boys, 227 girls from New Zealand and 129 boys, 113 girls from China), aged 2-18. Children were interviewed while they "observed" the apparent motion of the Sun and Moon, and other features of the…

The article examines third graders who use reading, speaking, writing, gestures, and visual representation strategically in their inquiry research and to share what they learn. Examples of their speaking, writing and drawing shows their developing skill in choosing semiotic meaning-making systems appropriately for the purpose of developing their…

Conclusions derived from drawing research indicate that young children can be trained to see and respond to the distinctions of their observation and that these distinctions can enrich their drawing experiences. These distinctions include spatial information obtained from observation. Three basic factors influence young children's spatial…

Drawing tests are often used to provide confirmatory and supporting evidence of intelligence or intellectual functioning. The relationship between scores on these types of instruments and academic achievement was studied among graduate students seeking degrees in education. The sample consisted of 125 graduate students in education (93 women and…

This article describes a spontaneous project that emerged from a group of 3- and 4-year-old children in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. The article describes how the teachers adapted the classroom and curriculum to meet the diverse needs of children who were evacuees, as well as those children who were affected in other ways by the…

A study examined the character, expressive qualities, and attitudes toward art (performing and visual) activities of handicapped Canadian adolescents (N=30) to determine how well current teaching of the arts meets the needs and expectations of these students. A review of literature on arts activities and exceptional students contributed to the…

In order to construct a plan drawing test for emotionally disturbed children, 1,250 children from 6 to 15 years old were asked to draw plans of their houses. Forty items in this cross-sectional sample illustrate a regular and rapid increase with age from the purely vertical pictures of houses at 6 years to the mainly horizontal representations at…

This secondary school curriculum guide is written in outline form to simplify the planning of a design-oriented art program. For each of 15 design units, a step-by-step set of instructions is given. Each unit is presented in three stages, each of which is a complete lesson in design. Materials and tools necessary for lesson preparation, motivation…