Drawing; *Representational Competence

In an investigation of causes of the disproportionate relation between head and body in children's drawings of the human figure, 160 children of 3-10 years of age produced drawings of a man viewed from the front and from the back. It was expected that if planning to include facial features increased the size of the head children drew, then heads would be larger in the frontal drawing, in which features are included, than in the dorsal drawing, in which they are not. Drawings of an empty plate and d plate laden with food were collected in an effort to investigate the possibility of a general effect of planning with regard to internal details on the size of an outline. Resu ts showed a highly significant effect of figure orientation on head size at all ages. Children drew larger heads when the figure was viewed from the front than from the back. There was no comparable effect in drawings of plates. Head to body proportion was largest for the youngest children and declined significantly with age. There were significant differences between drawings of children from different schools. Results suggest that even though children's planning to include facial features may affect head size at all ages, there are wide differences between different populations of children. Additional research is needed to identify the basis of these differences. (RH) **A**IC*****************************************X*********************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document.