Learning Through Arts and Music
Research and Practice Seminar
Early Childhood Ireland Conference
Croke Park, Dublin
Friday 17
thApril 2015
Rachel Whelan,
How Can I Support Drawing as a Meaning Making
Process in an Early Childhood Setting?
Introduction
Literature Review
Methodology
Findings
Conclusions
‘
Drawing provides children with
their first means of making a
permanent, tangible, concrete,
and communicable record of
their ideas so that most young
children have a strong desire to
Context
Background
Drawing
‘the process and product of making 2 dimensional visual
representations by line, using dry media’ (Hall 2010a, 23)
Draw to Learn
‘ the movement from simple spontaneous concepts to more
complex concepts’ (Brooks 2009,7).
Meaning Making
The ability of young children to use drawing as a
communicative practice and a thinking tool, which supports
learning and development (Anning and Ring, 2004).
Drawing and Telling
Combining what can be looked at (drawing) with what is said
(narrative) to support children in a genuine meaning making
experience which involves both body, mind, and heart. (Wright,
Developmental Perspective
Deficit model of child development
Universal
Immature
Without meaning
Socio-cultural Perspective
Child is competent, powerful, connected to others
Socio-cultural semiotic activity
Froebel
(1967)
Montessori
(1988)
Piaget and
Inhelder
(1956)
Kellogg
(1970)
Lowenfeld and
Brittain
(1987)
Golomb
(1981)
Matthews
(2003)
Vygotsky
(1978
Kress
(1997)
Malaguzzi
(Rinaldi, 2001)
Anning and Ring
(2004)
Brooks
(2009)
Wright
(2007)
Hall
(2010a)
Action research is a systematic enquiry that
involves a cyclical process of planning action,
observation, and reflection (Koshy, 2010).
(Kemmis and McTaggart cited in Koshy, 2010)
Personal ethics statement
Parental Consent
Action research is by its nature a subjective
and intuitive process
◦
Reflective Diary
Action research is both context specific and
small in sample size, and therefore findings
cannot be generalised
Draw to Learn: How can I support drawing as a
meaning making process in an early childhood
setting?
Two Cycles of Action Research
Third Cycle incomplete
Circle Time
Learning environment
Drawing Box
The Big Black Storm Child G
12/11/13
Child G: This is a big black storm Me: What is this here?
Child G: The people’s lying down Me: What is this beside the big black storm?
Child G: That’s blicks Me: What are blicks?
Child G: They are blicks falling down, falling down, lots and lots falling down.
Action Research Diary 15/11/13 The Big Maze
‘Today the most significant thing I learnt about the children’s meaning making was the fact that I was beginning to see some recurrent themes and a crossover of themes/meanings within their drawings. Child A was again referring to big and little and had again drawn a maze but this time she had more detail in her drawing. Again this may be an indication of schema, in, out, big, little. A possible opportunity for extending learning.’
Action Research Diary 13/11/13 Big Giant Octopus Fish
‘When Child A told me about her drawing of a fish I noticed that her language, like yesterday when she drew a maze, contained words like big, little, giant, in, out. She also expressed her ideas by using gestures she made using her hands and arms. This may indicate exploration of particular concepts’
Daddy’s Rubbish
Mammy’s Bed
Bombs
Racing
Action Research Diary 18/11/13
‘What has become apparent over the last six days is how well the children make meaning through their drawings, both their home, community and school life is reflected in what they draw and tell me about their drawings. It is evident that they are exploring different concepts about how the world works, they are trying out new vocabulary and expressing themselves both
verbally and non verbally-big little, Typhoo, islands,- pointing, moving hands, making noises. By listening to what they say I have been able to assess both their learning and how that learning might be extended. However one thing that has struck me as significant from what I have collected so far, is the way the children are interested in each other’s drawings, some following a similar theme or just listening to each other tell about their drawings. This last point indicates an idea for my next cycle of research.
I have decided that what I plan to do to support the children even further in their meaning making will be to prepare another circle time activity in which we will review the drawings collected so far. Also during this activity I plan to suggest to the children the idea of buddy drawing and get some ideas from them on how I can support this kind of drawing activity.
Children Making Meaning
Building Relationships
Oral Language Development
Circle Time Review
Drawing Together
Action Research Diary 26/11/13
‘On arrival this morning into the setting three of the children approached me with the drawing box and asked could they be drawing buddies today. I set them up with a large sheet of paper and asked did they want to draw while on the floor or at a table. They chose a table. As I observed their activity, I heard them discussing ideas about what to draw. Child C and Child B started to draw a dinosaur and Child J was overheard saying ‘me too’. As English is not Child J’s first language it was nice to hear him communicating his ideas and understanding to the other children in the group.
After the children had finished the drawing they each told me about their dinosaurs, with Child J responding with ‘me too’, and then later in the session they got together again to draw some snakes.
Dinosaurs
Individual
Small Group
Action Research Diary 26/11/13
I am getting to that stage in this second cycle when I need to consider another possible intervention to support the children’s meaning making. I have noticed that in the last couple of days some of the children are using the drawing journal to draw a picture together, helping each other complete sections of the drawing and then telling me about their drawing together.
Drawing Box and Drawing Journal
supported spontaneous drawing
activity, drawing together and drawing
and telling
Buddy drawing supported drawing
together
Drawing activity supported the
Circle Time Review
Themes
Significance of Findings
Limitations
Implications for Practice and Policy
Action research is a form of enquiry that enables
practitioners in every job and walk of life to
investigate and evaluate their work’ (McNiff and
Whitehead 2011, 7).
Hall states that in the context of the early
childhood setting practitioners should attempt to
appreciate the ‘complexity and understand the
communicative potential of young children’s
drawings’ (2010a, 386).
Anning, Angela and Kathy Ring (2004) Making sense of children’s drawings. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Brooks, Margaret (2009) ‘Drawing to Learn’. In Narney, Marilyn, ed. Making Meaning: Constructing Multimodal Perspectives of Language, Literacy, and Learning through an Art- based Early Childhood Education. USA: Springer, 9-29.
Fletcher, S.S.F and Welton, J (Eds) (1912) Froebel’s Chief Writings on Education. London: Edward Arnold and Co. Available from: http://studentzone.roehampton.ac.uk /library/digital-collection/froebel-archive/froebel-chief-writing/index.html [accessed 31Oct 2013].
Golomb, Claire (2011)The Creation of Imaginary Worlds: The Role of Art, Magic and Dreams in Child Development. England: Jessica Kingsley.
Hall Emese (2010a) ‘The Communicative Potential of Young Children's Drawings’. Open Research Exeter (ORE):
University of Exeter. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/10036/105041 [accessed 2 Sept 2013]. Kellogg Rhoda (1970) Analyzing Children’s Art. Palo Alto, CA: Mayfield Pub Co.
Koshy, Valsa (2010) Action Research for improving Educational Practice: A step by step.2nd edition, London;
Sage.
Kress, Gunther (1997) Rethinking the paths to Literacy. London: Routledge
Lowenfeld, Viktor and W. Lambert Brittain (1987) Creative and mental growth. 8th edition, Upper Saddle
River, N.J: Prentice Hall.
McNiff, Jean and Jack Whitehead (2011) All You Need to Know About Action Research. 2nd edition,
London: Sage.
Matthews, John (2003) Drawing and Painting: Children and Visual Representation. 2nd ed. London: Sage. Montessori, Maria (1988) The Discovery of the Child: The Clio Montessori Series; v.2.Oxford, England.
Clio Press Ltd.
Piaget, Jean and Barbel, Inhelder (1956) The Child’s Conception of Space. London: Routledge. Rinaldi, Carlina (2001) ‘The Pedagogy of Listening: The Listening Perspective from Reggio Emilia’.
Innovations in early education: the international Reggio exchange 8: 4, 1-4.Available from:
http://academic.udayton.edu/JamesBiddle/Pedagogy%20of%20Listening.pdf [accessed 29 Sept 2013].
Wright, Susan (2007) ‘Graphic-narrative play: Young children’s authoring through drawing and telling’.
International Journal of Education and the Arts 8 (8), 1-28. Available from: http://www.ijea.org/v8n8/v8n8.pdf [accessed 14 Sept 2013].
Vygotsky, Lev (1978) Mind in Society. Cambridge, MA: Havard Unversity Press. Available from: