Children’s Judgments and Feelings about Their Own Drawings

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate possible age differences in drawing performance of preschool and primary school children, as well as in metacognitive experiences that are activated before and after the drawing process. The study is comprised of 222 children of both genders, aged from 4 to 12. They were tested individually in their schools. They were asked to produce four drawings, which vary on their level of complexity, and to rate before each drawing on a four-point scale the frequency of drawing similar themes and their feeling of difficulty. After the drawing they were asked to estimate again the difficulty they felt as well as the feeling of liking the drawing they produced and the correctness of the drawing. The results of a series of analyses of variance confirmed the expected improvement of drawing performance with age. There wasn't found, however, the same developmental course in the case of metacognitive experiences. On the contrary, there was found a significant decrease in the feeling of liking and the estimation of correctness of the drawings, especially after the second grade.

Cognitive Flexibility in Schoolchild Through the Graphic Representation of Movement

“…This contribution may also relate to studies that indicate that children at age 5 are metacognitively satisfied with the representation of movement they achieve ( Bonoti and Metallidou, 2010 ), without adding changes to what they have drawn, despite limitations in the dynamic expression achieved, but that, starting at age 6, given greater awareness of the task’s requirements and greater regulation of their resources, they attempt to modify the available schema in order to solve the task in question ( Touroutoglou and Efklides, 2010 ). “Indication” is therefore a resource that enables the graphic representation of movement when the child, despite having a mental representation of the movement, does not possess sufficient graphic strategies to modify the characteristics of the figure in order to convey it.…”

Sex Differences in Scores on the Draw-a-Person Test across Childhood: Do They Relate to Graphic Fluency?

“…On the other hand, the periods during which girls outperformed boys corresponded to the mastering of the contour line technique to draw human fi gures (8-9 years) and the end of childhood (11-12 years), where children in general are less satisfi ed with their own drawings, realizing that there is a gap between their own productions and the real world (see, e.g., Baldy, 2011 ). A recent study by Bonoti and Metallidou (2010 ) showed that children's thoughts and feelings about their own drawing competence decrease as they get older. Girls may maintain a stronger or longer drawing enjoyment and self-confi dence in drawing ability than did boys at these specifi c periods of drawing development.…”

Innovative Learning and Teaching for Quality Careers of Graduates and Excellent Higher Education: Arts Didactics in Higher Education

“…These are related to the diversity of a child' s general and artistic experiences, their character, the social and material conditions of the environment the child lives in, and the responses to their artistic results (Edwards, 2004). Matthews (2003) particularly emphasised the importance of individual characteristics and variations in child' s artistic expression, and most contemporary researchers of children' s art agree (Barnes, 2002;Bonoti & Metallidou, 2010;Edwards, 2004).…”