How do children perceive the activity of drawing? Some initial observations of children in an infant school

The work described is the initial phase of a project, investigating the development of children's skills and understanding in drawing and modelling for design thinking. The focus at this stage is on approaches used by children when drawing freely. Children in an infant school, were observed on a one-to -one basis while engaged on a drawing activity. Their talk during the activity was recorded and analysed. Preliminary indications suggest that young children approach the task of drawing in different ways. Whether these differences represent an individual style, or are task- or situation-dependent is a question for the next phase of research. A surprising observation was the extent to which children in the sample were pre-occupied with aspects of task management. Further study will establish for how long in a child's development this persists. Until the child feels confident in the mastery of the task, s/he is unlikely to be able to concentrate on wider aspects of design thinking