Running head: ANALYZING STUDENTS ART

Analyzing Students Art Erin Critchfield University of Missouri

Running head: ANALYZING STUDENTS ART Analyzing Students Artwork Research It is important for us as future teachers to understand the importance of our students artwork. When analyzing it can help us evaluate students mental abilities and growth. Not only do

students teach us about themselves with their art, but their art teaches them. One of the many reasons is that the arts teach our students to make good judgements about qualitative relationships. Unlike much of the curriculum in which correct answers and rules prevail, in the arts, it is judgment (Eisner, 2002, para. 1). It is our job as educators to understand what each stage of artistic development means in order to foster successful academic and artistic growth. Methods: The drawing below was created by the participant I will refer to as Annie. As I observed the features of the drawling, I documented things that I noticed and connected them to previous readings on the subject of childrens art development. It was very interesting to be able to connect the same concepts found in the reading with a real students artwork Findings: Annies artwork was created with what looks like was a few mediums such as pencil and marker. She composed this on a 8.5 x 11 inch white piece of paper. In this picture it seems to be outside because it looks as if the students was scribbling sky and grass and there is a sun in the top right corner. It looks as if the student drew an animal (perhaps a cat) in the middle of the paper. The animal has 5 long legs and what looks like 3 mini legs and a set of wings. This student added whiskers, triangles in the ears, dark shaded eyes, and a mouth formation. There are 3 very dark blobs on Annies paper, which I would interpret as a mess up so she scribbled it out. In the top left hand corner it reads, 23$. The randomness of the detail made it quiet humorous. Im not

Running head: ANALYZING STUDENTS ART

sure what the student was thinking when drawing a price on her artwork, maybe she was planning to put in it an art show. According to Lowenfeld and Brittain this student is in the Pre-schematic Stage which tends to happen at ages 4-7 (1970). You can tell this because this student drew a picture of a cat and you can see the gradual inclusion of arms and a distorted omission of a few parts. There are a few objects that are floating around on this page and you notice that this student is still doing a bit of scribbling. I think this shows the student is coming out of that stage because you can see that she is starting to form recognizable animals with shapes she knows. This students work is a great representation of the territorial imperative principle. As stated by Wilson & Wilson 1982, In order to present each element in a drawling with the most clarity possible, the child allots to each its own inviolable space. The territorial-imperative principle governs the lack of over lap (pg. 60). As you can see in Annies drawing, the cat is placed on top of the grass therefore giving the grass and the cat their own space. This drawing also fits the fill-the-format principle. This indicates that students might draw an animal with 8 legs just because it will fill up available space. Annies inability to coordinate her movements made the cat have a body shape as such and probably the same reason for other shapes on her drawing. This explains the "cat" figure drawn by this student and why it doesn't look as real as she probably wanted it to look. Conclusion: By doing this analysis I can see that my student is just beginning the steps in becoming a successful artist as she gets older. Art is all about self-expression and when given the opportunity students can thrive to be great artists. Students are capable of more than you think, Picasso even had to start somewhere. As a regular classroom teacher I can encourage growth in many

Running head: ANALYZING STUDENTS ART different ways. I will implement art into my lessons where ever it feels appropriate. If I teach young students, using art is a great way to hold their attention no matter the lesson. Striving to develop artistic ability not old enhances the students artistic abilities but their overall academic success and self expression. The arts help children to say what cannot be said (Eisner, 2002, para. 8). Therefore, my students will be given the opportunity to express themselves daily through their creations and express feelings that might otherwise could not be verbalized.

Running head: ANALYZING STUDENTS ART References Eisner, E. (2002). Ten lessons the arts teach. (pp. 70-92). Yale University Press. Lowenfeld, V., & Brittain, W. L. (1970). Creative and mental growth. New York: Macmillan Wilson, M., & Wilson, B. (1982). Learning to draw: nurturing the natural. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.