A Study on the Spontaneous Representation of Animals in Young Children’s Drawings of Plant Life

Abstract

Previous research indicates that complex biological concepts may be successfully introduced in preschool age, provided that suitable educational interventions are designed for the initial stages of education. In this regard, there is evidence that a basic understanding of the issue of the ecological interactions among organisms may be achieved in the preschool years. With this in mind, this research project tests the assumption that recognising the fact that plants and animals are not isolated creatures, but live engaged in constant interactions in nature, may begin to be understood in early education. To that end, this study examines the content of free drawings that a sample of 328 children aged four to seven years of age, undertook when explaining their understanding of plant life. Data regarding the type and frequency of the depictions of animals found in the children's graphic explanations on flora is collected and read in conjunction with participants' gender and academic level. The results show that a substantial proportion of the children in the sample spontaneously drew illustrations of animals in their graphic explanations concerning vegetable life and, more significantly, some pictures show plants and animals engaged in clear contact. This is the case, despite the fact that the drawing activity had been focused solely on the issue of plant life and no indication linked to depicting other kinds of living things mentioned during the activity. The conclusions discuss the data collected in connection with the growing number of research projects that study the question of how young children begin to embrace the fundamental biological concepts that pave the way to the understanding of natural phenomena and make the public capable of making responsible choices when it comes to sustainability issues.

Symmetrical Motifs in Young Children’s Drawings: A Study on Their Representations of Plant Life

“…These differences refer exclusively to the fact that girls seem to be more prone to depict more complex dihedral symmetries. Previous research involving the examination of children's drawings gives evidence of the differences between girls and boys regarding their graphical explanations [18,21], even though there are also studies that fail to show evidence in this same sense [22,57]. Nevertheless, no preceding study has examined the issue of gender differences in relation to the depiction of symmetry, so there is no way to put the presented data into perspective with other completed studies.…”

“…This perspective might offer a possible explanation not only for the fact that the dihedral symmetry occurs so often in the sample studied but, also, for the relationship found between dihedral symmetry and the educational level variable. Thus, previous research gives evidence to the fact that as children advance to higher levels of education in the time period between the end of preschool and the beginning of primary education, this increases their graphical expressivity, drawing more pictorial elements [22,23] and with more complex shapes [14]. Arguably, the observation provided by this study in the sense that dihedral symmetries are more frequent and also more complex as the pictures of the children in the highest educational levels are considered, could be linked to the fact that the children in these levels need to extend their graphical expressivity and, to that end, they more often draw on their representation of motifs with dihedral symmetry, and, presumably, with more complex structures.…”

“…The process of pinpointing symmetries in the children's drawings was based on the examination of the pictorial motifs appearing in their pictures. A pictorial motif, in accordance with previous research linked to the analysis of the content of young children's drawings [22,29,47], is considered to be the graphical representation of a certain entity, both physical (e.g., a tree) or abstract (e.g., a decorative pattern), which displays a distinctive level of independence in the picture. Thus, for instance, a flower appearing in a picture is regarded as a pictorial motif as it represents a particular physical entity, which, plausibly, looks to be singled out from the other parts of the drawing.…”

“…Drawing activities are pointed out as an effective way to encourage children to express their thoughts and feelings [17,18]. Not surprisingly, the study of their depictions has proved to be useful to gain an insight into how children acquire the comprehension of a variety of topics, such as, the microbial world and its implications on health [19], the structure of plants [20], earthquakes [21], the ecological relationships between animals and plants [22], as well as the concept of living things [23] and even pre-schooler's ideas about magnetism [24]. In addition, studies in line with this field of research have also been successfully conducted to better understand how children grasp geoscience related themes [25,26], elementary astronomy [27] and even conceptions about science [28].…”

Environmental Awareness and Its Relationship with the Concept of the Living Being: A Longitudinal Study

“…Clearly, people with pro-environmental attitudes and knowledge of environmental problems are more inclined to act responsibly [1]. There is, therefore, an urgent need for further research into the mental processes involved in developing the concept of the living being [2] and environmental care [3].…”