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A Second Grade Childs Drawing Analysis Research


Kaylie N. Kierstead
University of Missouri

DRAWING ANYALSIS RESEARCH

A Second Grade Childs Drawing Analysis Research


When I received this assignment, I was intimidated with how I would properly approach
the data analysis and research. After conducting an interview with a student, I realized that this
research is more focused on my interpretation of the students work rather than what the authors
of the articles weve read would say. It is important as a teacher to be able to read into what
students are trying to tell you through the way they approach different tasks, especially ones that
require abstract and creative thinking. Initially, while I understood that the creative process was
crucial to students learning to think abstractly and critically, I didnt see the connection or
importance in focusing so much on this as a future classroom teacher.
Method
For the spring 2016 semester, I am observing a second grade classroom. When I
explained this analysis of a childs drawing to my host teacher, she knew exactly who would be
the perfect candidate for this type of work. She paired me with an eight-year-old girl, who I will
call Sara for the purposes of this paper, who is incredibly creative and has a wonderful
imagination. While Sara sometimes struggles with reading and other subjects, mostly because
she is too prideful to let herself make mistakes, she excels in art because you can tell she is
confident and most of the time willing to let go of this idea of creating the perfect art piece.
I had Sara create two pictures for me during our time together. First, she decided to
quickly create a personified watermelon and then she went on to draw a picture of a unicorn and
a rainbow. I will be sharing my observations and notes based off of class discussions and
readings about Saras drawings and analyzing her creative development based off of these ideas.

DRAWING ANYALSIS RESEARCH

DRAWING ANYALSIS RESEARCH

Personified Watermelon

Unicorn and Rainbow

DRAWING ANYALSIS RESEARCH

Findings
After looking at Lowenfields stages through which children progress, I noticed that Sara
is in the schematic stage. She draws what she knows and uses memory to bring back ideas on
how she would like to portray objects in her works of art. Her drawing of the unicorn, like it is
described in the schematic stage in Lowenfields (1970) article, is bold, direct, and flat and
shows her knowledge of the environment. Sara drew the unicorn from a side view with one eye
and no nostrils. She drew two legs showing in the front on the left side of the unicorn and then a
leg behind each of these legs in the background to show a little more depth.
Luehrman (2006) discusses the symbol making stage in his article. Sara falls perfectly
into this stage for a couple of reasons. By watching her, I could tell she was a perfectionist when
it came to her drawings. She hesitated quite a bit before starting and ended up erasing the head of
the unicorn several times. She also would say things under her breath, such as, oh no.. or Im
drawing so bad. These reactions she is having towards her own artwork can be due to her
maturing and considering the influence of social factors. Sara felt that she had to create a
realistic looking unicorn that fit the stereotypical view of a unicorn that people would typically
imagine in order for it to be considered good. She did not let herself really step outside the box as
much and use her own interpretation of a unicorn.
While Sara was drawing both her picture of her personified watermelon and the picture of
the rainbow and unicorn, I asked her to describe to me what she was drawing and any stories that
went along with the picture. She told me some stories that showcased her imagination and gave
me a little insight into her experiences and the views shes picked up on the world.
Sara told me that the unicorns name was Rainbow Unicorn. I found it interesting that
she automatically associated unicorns and rainbows; as if rainbows are part of this magical world
that doesnt actually exist. She was also sure to not make the rainbow the wrong sequence of

DRAWING ANYALSIS RESEARCH

colors. She started with red, orange, yellow and then got stuck. Sara sat there for a minute just
looking at her paper and crayon box. I reminded her that she was allowed to make her rainbow
however she liked and that nothing was wrong. She was completely worried that if she didnt put
the next color of the typical rainbow after yellow, her picture would automatically become bad.
She eventually figured out the next color in the rainbow and happily moved on to color in
everything.
I was fascinated at how big of an imagination Sara had. She explained to me that she
specifically couldnt use black to color anything on the picture because that would break the
rainbow rules. She then decided that she needed to color the unicorn light gray so it would
look white. Sara also told me some fun facts she knew about unicorns, which included that
unicorns throw up cake and they like to eat rainbows because they taste like candy. Her favorite
part of the interview that I conducted with her was most definitely getting to share every part of
her drawing with me. This reminded me of the importance of story-telling that is mentioned in
its own section of Pinks (2006) book, A Whole New Mind.
Pink (p. 115, 2006) mentions that, We compress years of experience, thought, and
emotion, into a few compact narratives that we convey to others and tell to ourselves Story
represents a pathway to understanding that doesnt run through the left side of the brain.. Saras
way of sharing different parts of her drawing that she finds important and worthy of sharing with
me helps me see that she views unicorns as a very positive mystical creature. Furthermore, this
shows the strength of her imagination. It was easier for Sara to show me her creative thinking
and imagination when it wasnt put on paper in her drawings. Even though she made comments
throughout about how something did not look right to her in her drawings, she was confident in
verbally telling me everything that she had imagined going on in the picture instead.

DRAWING ANYALSIS RESEARCH

I was interested to figure out why Sara was so strong at using her imagination in a verbal way
but struggled putting it to paper with confidence. Brechet and Jolley suggest that, A certain
level of representational ability is required for expression to be conveyed through subject matter
and the childs increasing confidence in representing a wider repertoire of topics affords more
opportunity to draw out their developing understanding of emotional causes. (p. 466, 2014). As
children mature, their ability to represent their expressions and feelings increase, which in turn
increases confidence. As they get older, they also have more knowledge on various subjects. This
prior knowledge helps their ability to represent their ideas more in their artwork. While Sara
might have the level of representational ability to verbally describe the story that goes along with
the image in her head of what she ideally would like her picture to look like, she struggled to
create that image in her mind and represent that on paper. After reading the article I found, I
believe that the authors would agree with this interpretation. This also explained why she has
such a set perspective on the subjects she chose to draw. She had a very set way of how to
represent the watermelon and unicorn, so when it wasnt exactly how she had pictured it, it upset
her.

Conclusion
Sara drew two different drawings during our time together. While both look very different
at first glance, you can see that this young artist is a creative girl who likes to use her imagination
but also has a view thats been molded by experiences. She drew pictures of subjects that are
imaginary and not real, but while she was drawing these pictures she stuck to the typical
interpretations of the subjects. She colored the watermelon rind green and the flesh pink. She

DRAWING ANYALSIS RESEARCH

also paired a white unicorn with a rainbow that was colored in the typical order taught to us
through school (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet).
At first I did not understand the significance of her drawings or the decisions she made
regarding subject matter, shape, and color throughout the process. As a classroom teacher, I now
can see how this would be valuable information to have for each student to help tailor lessons
and activities to meet their individual artistic and creative needs, as well as develop critical
thinking skills. I want to encourage originality with my future students and especially praise
them for not conforming to stereotypes and perceptions that society expects them to hold. I also
want to teach students how to express feelings and responses to through visual arts. By teaching
the skills to them in a way that is based off of creativity and personal interpretation, students will
learn a kinesthetic way to express their emotions and respond in a way that has no guidelines or
boundaries. In order to teach critical and creative thinking, you must give students a chance to
practice it in a meaningful way. The freedom to express themselves is something that students
must learn in order to encourage growth in other areas.

DRAWING ANYALSIS RESEARCH

References
Brechet, C., & Jolley, R. P. (2014). The Roles of Emotional Comprehenshion and
Representational Drawing Skill in Children's Expressive Drawing. Infant and Child
Development , 457-470.
Brittan, W. &. (1970). Creative and Mental Growth. New York : MacMillan Co.
Luehrman, M., & Kathy, U. (2006). Making Theories of Children's Artistic Development
Meaningful. Art Education , 6-12.
Pink, D. H. (2006). A Whole New Mind. New York: Penguin Books.

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