Running Head: Childrens Art Development

Qualitative Research-Childrens Art Development

Student Name: Ronie Daniels
The University of Missouri-Columbia

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Running Head: Childrens Art Development

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Qualitative Research: Children's Art Development

In this essay, you will read about an investigation I conducted

with a young student from Columbia, Missouri. The purpose of this
investigation was to determine what stage of artistic development the
student was in and to assess the student's socio-scientific
development by observing and assessing an actual drawing the
student created. Determining how to integrate art in the classroom
may be a difficult topic for most pre-service teachers. This
investigation allows for pre-service teachers to see the importance of
art integration and the benefits it can bring to the classroom.
Before conducting this investigation, I did a little research in
order to have a clearer understanding of the importance of this activity.
I stumbled upon an article entitled, "Learning to draw: Nurturing the
Natural." While reading this article, I discovered why children's
drawings look as they do. According to this article, "Because of an
innate preference for certain types of visual order, children from one
end of the world to another share a predisposition to arrange lines and
shapes in certain ways. For this reason the drawings of children from
around the world all appear to look the same." However, the
differences that are in children's drawings all occur because of the
cultural differences we share as a society. This article helped me to

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realize that the arts have meaning. Have you ever heard the saying, "A
picture is worth a thousand words?" This was the phrase that came to
mind as I read this article. My classmates and I were assigned to
simply watch a kid draw a picture, but this drawing had the potential to
say many things about who that kid is as a person and what type of
message they are trying to convey. According to the article entitled,
Ten Lessons the Arts Teach, The arts help children learn how to say
what cannot be said. The article goes on to say that, When children
are invited to disclose what a work of art makes them feel, they must
reach into their poetic capacities to find the words that will do the job.
Upon further research I stumbled upon another insightful article.
This article was entitled, "Making Theories of Children's Artistic
Development Meaningful." According to this article, "It is important for
art teachers to understand how children develop artistically. This kind
of knowledge is essential for choosing age-appropriate teaching
strategies and content for the units and lesson that the art teacher
develops." This concept can be applied to all elementary teachers and
not just art teachers. Learning to understand your students is essential
and it is this knowledge that helps a teacher cater to her students in an
efficient and beneficial way. Piaget has described characteristic
behaviors, including artistic ones such as drawing, as a means for
children to provide their teachers with knowledge of how they think
and what they do as they progress beyond developmental milestones.

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Thus, I learned from this article, that this assignment would provide me
with the opportunity to get to know my students better. This
knowledge can help me to develop lessons that meet the needs of all
my students.
In order to conduct this investigation, I first needed to find a
young child to draw a picture for me. I eventually chose a kindergarten
student from an elementary school I volunteer at. Because I have
observed this student in her classroom numerous times, I knew that
she was advanced for her age. Furthermore, I knew that she wouldn't
have any issues drawing a picture for me. I told her that I had a very
important college project I needed her to help me with and she was
immediately interested and excited to help. I gave the young girl two
options; she could either draw a self -portrait or a picture of a tree. The
student chose to draw a self-portrait after we had a quick discussion
about what a self- portrait is. We sat at her desk so that she could have
an even, flat surface to draw on. The only materials she used were a
piece of notebook paper and a pack of markers. Once she gathered her
materials and we sat down, she began to create this beautiful picture
of herself without any fear or hesitation. Her classmates surrounded us
and the children were all too eager to know what we were doing. But
this young artist didn't allow her classmates to distract her. As she
marked the piece of notebook paper, I asked her a series of questions
regarding the decisions she was making. I would say, "Why did you use

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that color marker," or "What is this a picture of, are those clouds?"
Each time I asked a question and received a response, I became more
aware and knowledgeable about the student and about what she was
creating.

As you can see from the picture above, this student was very
detailed in her drawing and she used colors that made sense. For
example, she used blue for water and yellow for sand. She began her
drawing by first drawing herself. She drew her face, facial features,
hair, and clothes first. She chose to make a shirt with pink and grey
stripes and she colored her jeans blue because that was what she was

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wearing that day. Then she began to color her face in with a brown
marker. I asked her why she chose to use a brown marker just to see
what her response would be. She told me that she chose the brown
marker because she was a brown girl. I enjoyed her response. I initially
assumed that she would say that she chose the brown marker because
she was a black girl. After all, African-Americans are often referred to
as black. But she shocked me as she stated that she made the decision
because she was brown.
At this moment, something happened and I had to
immediately but my teacher hat on. A young, Caucasian student sitting
near us heard her comments and began to include himself in our
conversation. To my surprise, he concluded his statement by saying
that "brown people aren't good for white people." This became a
"teachable moment" for me and all the students around us. After his
young, innocent comments were spoken, I told all the students to put
their hands in a circle. As I looked around at our hands, I pointed out
the differences in color and I pointed out the beauty in each color. Then
I looked at the students and said, "The color of our skin doesn't define
who we are; its what is in our hearts that makes us who we are." The
students seemed to really appreciate my comments, and the young
Caucasian boy hugged me tightly after I was done speaking. Being an
African-American woman myself, this was a very powerful moment to
me and the hug the young boy gave me almost made me cry. From this

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experience I learned that a simple picture could spark a conversation.

These conversations can be very useful in the classroom and can
potentially create a sense of comfort and safety in a classroom.
The first time I worked with the student, she was only allowed
to complete the actual self -portrait part of her picture. The next time I
met with her, she began to create a background or a setting for her
picture. She chose to create a beach and I concluded that she was tired
of this winter weather and ready for summer to begin! She chose blue
for water and yellow for sand. The water was placed just above the
sand and included a series of fish. She drew a yellow, brown, purple,
and green fish in the water. Then, she drew an orange whale above the
water. I didn't get to ask her why the whale was out of the water, but I
believe that the whale must have been jumping out of the water. The
last thing she added to her picture were the blue clouds. She didn't
chose to color in her clouds, but they were outlined with a blue marker.
Perhaps she meant for the clouds to be white.
I found that this student is in "The Gang Age, The Dawning
Realism" stage of art development according to the article, "Beginning
States of Visual Expression of Young Children." This student showed me
that she was in this stage for many reasons. For starters, she had
greater awareness of clothing details. She drew her clothes in the
exact same way that she wore them that day. Her figure also looks a
bit stiff. Children in this stage of development use less exaggeration,

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distortion, and the body parts they create retain their meaning even
when they are separated. Furthermore, the body parts in her picture
retain their meaning even when they are separated. Her picture shows
that she has no understanding of shade or shadow, which is a
characteristic of students in this stage of development. And lastly,
students in this stage show a disappearance in base line and
emergence of the plane; they often overlap objects. If you look at the
drawing above, you will notice that she placed the water directly over
the sand to show that the water is behind the sand. Also, you may
notice that her figure is placed on top of the water and sand. This is to
show that she is standing on the beach. Furthermore, this picture
shows that she is using the space around her objects. She has
attempted to create a more finished product by the addition of items
such as borders, base lines, skis and backgrounds to surround her
objects.
Overall, I learned that the more a teacher learns about their
students mentally and personally, the better able they are to provide a
proper education for them. Activities such as this one provide teachers
with an idea of how external and internal factors may affect their
students. The self -portraitt I studied in this activity shows the
kindergartener just as she sees herself. Furthermore, with attention
given to social and cultural factors, teachers are able to understand
their students better. With his knowledge base, teachers are better

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able to choose age appropriate teaching and assessment strategies

that aim at developing each and every students whole potential. And
lastly, I learned that the arts could be used to spark conversation as
well as convey meaningful messages. Having open-ended classroom
discussions about important issues can be an effective way to connect
with your students and can help create a safe classroom environment. I
find it interesting that all of these findings came from a simple self
-portrait created by a kindergartener. I am supposed to be teaching my
students, but they always end up teaching ME.

References

Eisner, E. W. (2002). The arts and the creation of mind. New Haven:
Yale Universtiy.

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Luehrman, M., Unrath, K. (2006). Making theories of childrens artistic

development
meaningful for pre-service teachers. Art Education, 59(3), 612.
Maryland Board of Education of Baltimore County. (1974) . Beginning
stages of
visual expression of young children. In Art Experience,
Development of Visual
Perception, 1- 4.
Wilson, M., & Wilson, B. (1982). Teaching children to draw. Englewood
Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice- Hall. (please note that the chapter title is called
Learning to Draw:
Nurturing the Natural)