Schema Theory – Conceptual Development

The Development of Drawing

Mark Jenkins

Draw a Person On plain paper draw a person as

well as you can (whole person)

Use only pen or pencil, no colours

You have 3 minutes to complete your picture

Assessing Children’s Levels of Conceptual Development

Through Drawing

Based on the work of:-Florence Goodenough [1926] andDale B Harris [1963]

The Harris/Goodenough Draw A Man Test

Children’s Drawings

Boy Age 7-10 Raw Score 4

Girl Age 3-11 Raw Score 5

Children’s Drawings

Boy Age 4-11 Raw Score 6

Girl Age 6-6 Raw Score 9

Children’s Drawings

Boy Age 5-1 Raw Score 10

Girl Age 5-0 Raw Score 16

Children’s Drawings

Girl Age 5 Raw Score 19

Boy Age 12-6 Raw Score 53

Children’s Drawings

Boy Age 15-10 Raw Score 63

Girl Age 12-1 Raw Score 7

How good was your drawing?

How developed was your concept of a person as exemplified through your drawing?

Swap your picture with someone else. How would they have scored? Make a reasonable estimate from the criteria on the following slide.

What is Schema Theory?Human beings understand the world by constructing

models of it in their mindsJohnson-Laird

A theoretical multidimensional store for almost innumerable items of knowledge, or as a framework with numerous nodes and even more numerous connections between those nodes… The more connections there are within and between schemas, the more construction has taken place and the more it is considered that knowledge and understanding has been gained; that is, learning has taken place

Pritchard

Mapping a SchemaThink of an egg

Write down 3 words you think of when you think egg

Collect together these words in your table groupOne group feed back to the frontTogether we will map the schemaRelated things near each other, links made

where appropriate

The Concept of a Schema This definition of a schema involves

action:

A schema […] is a pattern of repeatable behaviour into which experiences are assimilated and that are gradually co-ordinated. Co-ordinations lead to higher level and more powerful schemas.

Athey, 1990, p.37

A Schema is a Piagetian Concept [Constructivist]

The function of a schema is to enable generalizations to be made about objects and events in the environment to which the schema is applied

Piaget & Inhelder, 1973 p382

Mayer’s 4 Elements of a Schema

1. General It may be used in a variety of situations as a framework for understanding incoming information

2. Knowledge It exists in memory as something that a person knows

3. Structure It is organised around some theme

4. Comprehension It contains slots which are filled by specific information

Map a SchemaIn table groups

Using the large sheet of paper and pens map a schema for the curriculum subject you have been given [10 minutes]

Prepare a short presentation about your schema to be given to the rest of the group [10 minutes]

Characteristics of Schemas

They are based on our general world knowledge and experiences

They are generalised knowledge about situations, objects, events, feelings and actions

They are incomplete and constantly evolving They are personal They are not usually accurate representations of

phenomenon They typically contain inaccuracies and contradictions They provide simplified explanations to complex

phenomena They contain uncertainty but are used even if incorrect They guide our understanding of what is happening by

providing explanations of new information

The Development of Drawing

Early drawings evolve out of scribbling and proceeds according to a developmental sequence scale., Regardless of ethnic, geographical and cultural influences, young children the world over make identical scribblings between the ages of two and five years… The various scribbled forms occur in definite sequence, according to maturational levels, and therefore they should be viewed as products of biological behaviour, rather than of culturally learned behaviour.

Kellogg [1968]

Developing Drawing Kellogg warns teachers on the dangers of

accelerating children out of their biological art stage While a baby is still in a state of disordered

scribbling, drawing a picture of something real is inconceivable – Lowenfeld

The above two theorists view intervention as pushing a child towards a future stage of development.

Extending and enriching the existing stage, as on the Froebel Early Education Project, did show that the children thrived on this level of participation

Froebel Early Education Project

studied 20 children in an EPA in depth over a period of 2 years

children attended the project centre involved parents as well as

professionals in making observations of their children’s learning and in discussing children’s concerns and progress

The Froebel Early Education Project

All children in the project group were given powerful experiences from which they could learn, in the form of visits and visitors each week.

Children were observed systematically, and notes made of their representations, conversations, play actions and speech.

Conceptual Learning Athey and her associates found

that children worked on specific schemas for long periods of time, appearing to be obsessed with particular aspects of their world, as they developed these schemas and made sense of them.

Early Topological and Space Representation

Proximity -face features are near each other

Enclosure –enclosed face features inside outline Connection – head connected to body as are

arms/legs

Separation – different body parts separate from each other

Horizontal and Vertical Co-ordinates –Organised within logical horizontal and vertical patterns

Athey’s 8 Categories of Action Schema

dynamic vertical dynamic back & forth / side-to

side dynamic circular going over or under going round a boundary enveloping and containing going through a boundary Thought [An internalised notion]

Dynamic Vertical Schema The concept of up

and down

Dynamic Back and Forth Schema

The concept of side to side

Circular Directional and Rotational Schema

The concept of the circle and circular motion

Over and Under Schema The concept of on

top of and underneath

Round a Boundary Schema

The concept of an enclosing line

Enveloping Schema The concept of

containment

Through a Boundary Schema

The concept of entry and exit

DVD - Developing Drawing

BibliographyAthey C [2007] Extending Thought in Young Children

– A Parent-Teacher Partnership London:Paul Chapman

Harris D B [1963] Children’s Drawings as a measure of Intellectual Ability New York:Harcourt, Bruce and World

Nutbrown C [2006] Threads of Thinking London:SAGE

Pritchard A [2005] Ways of Learning London:David Fulton