Collaborative cognition: Co-creating children’s artwork in an educational context

Abstract

Based on a wider research project which critiqued the centricity of cognitivism in research investigating children's drawings this article explores the relationship between social interaction and materiality. Case studies are presented to systematically analyse a range of naturalistic data collected from art classes held in two Staffordshire primary schools. Use of a multi-level analysis demonstrates the ways in which materiality (space, tools, and materials) work as enabling constraints which shape discursive interaction. Concurrently, photographs of artwork created in the lesson examine how interaction guides the creation of material objects-child art. The analysis demonstrates that the creation of child art is not an individual endeavour and questions the assumption that artwork is a mirror to the child's mind. Instead, it is inextricably bound to the discursive and material contexts it is created in. Thus, ethnography is presented as a useful tool for examining interactions between discursive and material practices.

Transformation of Children’s Paintings into Public Art to Improve Public Spaces and Enhance People’s Happiness

“…When children observe an object, they first analyze the color characteristics and, then, have a specific understanding of the whole thing through the color characteristics [ 35 ]. Children always pay special attention to the color of things, and bright colors attract children’s attention [ 36 ]. Children’s paintings boldly use contrasting colors that are composed of high-purity colors without mixing.…”

“…Therefore, visual art, such as children’s drawings, can stimulate a sense of well-being [ 47 ]. The creation of children’s art is not an individual endeavor and questions the assumption that artworks are mirrors of children’s thoughts [ 36 ]. Art is often thought to enhance people’s well-being [ 37 ].…”

Beyond the oversocialized conception of the subject in psychology: Desire, conflict, and the problem of social order

“…Indigenous psychology is not a monolithic trend (Kirschner, 2019a), but many of its versions have affinities with sociocultural approaches, since both stress that it is essential to have a deep understanding of a culture’s values, beliefs, history, and healing practices in order to help foster more culturally appropriate, equitable, just, and salutary partnerships for global health and well-being (Christopher et al, 2014; Gone, in press). Finally, the continuing advancement of sociocultural psychologies is evident in recent articles published in this and in other journals, which compare/contrast, integrate, and apply dialogical, positioning, discursive, narrative, historical–ontology, and other approaches (see, e.g., Bertau, 2014; Hallam et al, 2014; Hickinbottom-Brawn, 2013; Kuusela et al, 2020; Raggatt, 2015).…”

Seeking Northlake: Place, technology, and public as enabling constraints for urban transdisciplinary research

“…In evolutionary biology, constraints play a positive role in the development of organisms by bounding physical environments and creating feedback loops that allow only the most viable systems to emerge (Hayles 2001: 155). In creative fields, designers impose upon themselves enabling constraints-thematic, aesthetic, and material as space, tools, and materiality-to prompt a potential for creativity but also to provide an internal coherence in their media and discipline to their process (Hallam, et al 2014;McDonnell 2011). Meanwhile, philosophical inquiry considers the conceptual dimension.…”