The Role of Drawing in Young Children’s Construction of ScienceConcepts

Ni Chang

Published online: 18 February 2012

� Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

Abstract It has been observed that many young children

like making marks on paper and that they enjoy the

activity. It is also known that children’s drawings are

vehicles for expression and communication. Therefore, it

would be logical and reasonable for teachers to incorporate

children’s drawings into building science concepts. To

demonstrate how drawings are utilized to help a child to

acquire a science concept, the article first presents a

vignette of an interaction between an adult and a 5-year-old

boy, focusing on the science concept of the physical

characteristics of a spider. It is then followed by several

analytical explanations of how drawings build children’s

understandings. Not only are the introduced strategies

useful for one-on-one interactive communication, but also

applicable to a small group of young children. The article

ends with the specifics of how these strategies were applied

to a group of four children in their acquisition of the sci-

ence concept of the water cycle.

Keywords Drawing � Science concept � Teaching and

learning � Young children

The itsy, bitsy spider, climbed up the water spout.

Down came the rain and washed the spider out.

Out came the sun and dried up all the rain,

So the itsy, bitsy spider went up the spout again.

After Heather, an adult, and Kevin, a 5-year-old child,

completed this playful finger play, Heather asked Kevin,

‘‘Have you ever seen a spider before?’’ ‘‘Yes,’’ respon-

ded Kevin, ‘‘there was a spider in my house an [and]

I killded [killed] it. It was a big spider.’’ While

responding, Kevin also described his experience with the

help of his hands in excitement. At this point, Heather

asked Kevin, ‘‘Can you draw me a picture of a spider?’’

‘‘Yeah,’’ Kevin replied quickly. (The author’s note: In

response to Kevin’s comment, ‘‘there was a spider in my

house an [and] I killded [killed] it,’’ Heather should have

responded to Kevin’s reply in order to raise Kevin’s

awareness of respecting all living creatures. That is,

Heather could have shared with Kevin that every living

creature has the need and desire to live and eat just like

Kevin. She might have also suggested that the child

scoot the spider outside on a piece of paper, if he sees a

spider indoors next time. In that way, the spider could

continue to live and to catch bugs outside. In addition,

Heather could have also connected the finger play with

why a spider crawls up a rainspout to help the child

understand that the spider might hide from birds that

want to eat it, want to build a web to catch bugs that go

there to escape the heat of the sun or that go there to

drink water coating the rainspout, or to build a web to

lay eggs in a sheltered area, etc.)

Kevin picked up his pencil and drew two circles, but

quickly erased them both. In the space below the two

erased circles, he created a bigger circle with two eyes in

the middle and four closed circles vertically to the eyes.

Kevin was humming the song of ‘‘The itsy, bitsy spider’’ as

he was working on his drawing. On each side of the bigger

circle, the child drew eight legs, respectively, and then

carefully counted them to make sure there were eight

legs on each side. ‘‘I am done,’’ Kevin announced after

checking. Heather continued the conversation with Kevin

(Heather denoted by H and Kevin, by K).

N. Chang (&)

Indiana University South Bend, South Bend, IN, USA

e-mail: nchang@iusb.edu

123

Early Childhood Educ J (2012) 40:187–193

DOI 10.1007/s10643-012-0511-3

H: Please tell me about your drawing.

[Kevin looks intently at his drawing.]

K: It has eight legs, two eyes, and um…H: What’s this? [pointing to the circle]

K: It has a head.

H: What are these? [pointing to four dots]

K: Um. Noses.

H: Noses?

K: Hmm Hmm. (see Fig. 1).

H: Thanks for the explanation. Now, let’s read a book to

find out what a spider looks like.

K: OK.

While Heather was reading the title, the author, and the

publisher, ‘‘The Spiders by Monica Hughes, published by

Raintree.’’ Kevin immediately grabbed his picture.

H: What have you noticed about the spider?

K: Oh, I forgot something (while responding, Kevin

added another circle immediately next to the bigger

circle) (see Fig. 1).

Heather resumed reading aloud. Kevin looked intently at

every picture while listening with great interest in the book.

At the conclusion of the book, a discussion about the pic-

tures took place between Heather and Kevin. At the end of

the discussion, Heather raised a series of questions

regarding the physical characteristics of a spider to gauge

Kevin’s level of understanding.

H: What does a spider look like?

K: It looks like… it has two parts and some are colorful!

And it has eight legs and um this boy said um something

can live um um um twenty days with their heads off!

[Kevin’s facial expression shows excitement over this

knowledge.]

H: Wow!

H: Where are the legs attached?

K: On their bodies.

H: Are the legs attached to the front body part or…K: The front (he answered without losing any time).

Later, Heather made another request, ‘‘Please draw me

another picture of the physical characteristics of a spider.’’

Kevin responded without any hesitation. Upon the com-

pletion of the drawing, another conversation took place

between Heather and Kevin.

H: Please tell me about your picture.

K: It’s a spider.

K: And it’s hairy.

K: It has four eyes. And it has four noses. And it

has eight legs. And it has two body parts. And that’s all.

(see Fig. 2)

Fig. 1 Kevin’s first attempt of demonstrating the science concept of

the physical characteristics of a spider

Fig. 2 Kevin’s enhanced understanding of the science concept of the

physical characteristics of a spider

188 Early Childhood Educ J (2012) 40:187–193

123

The focus of this lesson is on the physical characteristics

of a spider, examining the major body parts of a spider. It

is true that the science concept of the physical character-

istics of a spider reflects a fact. However, learning science

facts is ‘‘crucial to understanding science’’ (http://www.

suite101.com/content/science-fundamentals-what-is-a-fact-

a102796) and offers opportunities for young children to

acquire science process skills, such as comparing and

contrasting. For example, young children are able to

compare and contrast, under an adult’s guidance, the dif-

ferences between spiders and insects, such as bees, in terms

of the number of legs and body parts. To young children,

there may be very little obvious difference between the

two. But comparing the two with using specific physical

characteristics, it would be easier for young children to see

that these two living creatures are unique. With a clear

understanding of the traits of spiders and bees, young

children could then extend their exploration to include the

way a spider moves, how a spider uses its body parts, or

how a spider interacts with its environment (i.e., what the

creature does with its body parts in relation to its envi-

ronment). Apparently, studying the physical characteristics

of a spider is only one of the lessons in the theme of

spiders. There are various concepts in the theme of spiders

for young children to acquire. Furthermore, the physical

characteristics of a living thing align with one of the three

dimensions of the K-4 National Science Education Stan-

dards (NSES): ‘‘Characteristics of Organisms’’ (National

Research Council (NRC), 1996, p. 106). In the dimension

of Characteristics of Organisms (NRC), young children

may also explore what spiders eat, what spiders need to

survive, how they use energy from their environments, and

how they respond to stimuli. The other two dimensions

include ‘‘Organisms and Environments’’ and ‘‘Life Cycle

of Organisms’’ (NRC). The dimension of Organisms and

Environments (NRC) includes how spiders interact with

one another and how they impact other species. The

dimension of Life Cycle of Organisms (NRC) will be

addressed through investigations of the life cycle of spiders

and how long spiders live. While young children are

exploring these topics, drawings will continue to be used as

assessment to guide instruction and plan learning experi-

ences for children to advance acquisition of science con-

cepts. Young children could convey what they know about

the habitat of a spider or how a spider interacts with its

environment through drawings while they construct the

concepts.

Roles that Drawings Play

The interaction between Heather and Kevin lasted only a

few minutes, but it was a productive one. Not only did this

process help the child acquire the science concept effec-

tively, but it also helped promote and/or expose the

child to knowledge and concepts in other subject domains,

including language and literacy (listening, speaking and

giving rapt attention to the book) and math (counting,

numbering, and one-to-one correspondence). It is apparent

that in a context of interactive dialogue between an adult

and child, the child’s drawings play many roles, which are

described in the following.

Displaying Various Levels of Conceptual

Understanding

Children’s drawings convey their levels of conceptual

understandings (Chang, 2007, 2011). There is a clear dif-

ference between Kevin’s first and second drawings of the

spider that demonstrate his increased understanding

of the science concept in the dimension of Characteristics

of Organisms (NRC 1996). Another example of this

advancement is shown in Figs. 3 and 4. Figure 3 shows

what Josiah, a 5-year-old boy, knew about the life cycle

science concept before his teacher introduced the concept.

Josiah demonstrated through his first drawing that he did

not have a clear concept of the life cycle of an apple,

because he only drew an apple tree. To teach the concept,

the learning experiences planned included Josiah’s listen-

ing to a children’s book, communicating with the teacher,

and completing a hands-on activity that asked the child to

put a set of picture cards in the correct sequence according

to the science concept. Josiah’s second drawing became

richer in content, signifying his enhanced understanding.

Figure 4 clearly shows the stages of the life cycle of an

apple, including the seed, apple tree, bud, blossom, and

apple. It is clear that Josiah’s first drawing demonstrates his

prior knowledge of the science concept while the second

one shows his current knowledge of the science concept as

a result of the instruction and interaction with the teacher.

(The authors’ note, Since the article is solely focused on

the roles that drawing plays in young children’s acquisition

of science concepts, detailed discussions on instructional

strategies and procedures are purposely omitted).

Facilitating Language Competency

Adult-child communication focused on drawings enables a

child to listen, think, and then speak (Chang, 2009). Kevin

listened to questions or comments attentively and appeared

to consider his answers before responding aloud. He also had

opportunities to advance the concept of conversational turn-

taking. During this adult-child interaction, the child was

asked to talk about his drawings, a practice that provides a

Early Childhood Educ J (2012) 40:187–193 189

123

child with an opportunity to talk with an adult rather than an

adult talking to the child. Research indicates when an adult

and a child are partners in a conversation, the interactive

communication is robustly associated with healthy language

development (Zimmerman et al., 2009). Zimmerman et al.

underscored the significant role that two-sided conversations

(adult-child dialogues) play in children’s language devel-

opment. They advocate teachers’ attention not only to

reading or storytelling as a means of support for children’s

language acquisition skills but also one-to-one discourse

between adult and child (Zimmerman et al. 2009).

Facilitating Literacy Competency

Kevin’s literacy growth can also be seen through his

engagement in two drawings. Drawing encouraged Kevin

to unveil the image kept inside his head about the physical

characteristics of a spider on paper. After ‘‘writing (draw-

ing) what he intended to say,’’ Kevin underwent the pro-

cess of translating ‘‘symbols’’ to oral language, a chance to

‘‘read’’ the illustrations produced by him. The integration

of a child’s verbal explanation with drawing confirmed

Freudenheim’s (2005) assertion that drawing could facili-

tate verbalization and organization of speech in order to be

understood. Fello et al. (2007) suggested that people tended

to express themselves more fully when drawing was

encouraged. Drawing has also been viewed as an entry to

written language (Dyson, 1992; Oken-Wright, 1998) and a

mechanism of the enhancement of children’s early literacy

(Oken-Wright, 1998). Anning (2003) and Hall (2009) both

argued that drawing in and of itself was a speaking and

writing tool, and should not only be viewed as a tool for

pre-speaking and pre-writing. In addition, young children’s

ability to interpret the graphic language enables them to

promote their visual literacy as well (Anning, 2003; Chang,

2009).

Assessing Concept Building

Serving as pre- and post-assessment tools, drawings can be

regarded as ‘windows’ on the child’s level of understand-

ing of a science concept before and after instruction.

Kevin’s first drawing worked as pre-assessment or informal

assessment, offering Heather basic knowledge of the

child’s prior understanding of the science concept. The

second drawing, working as post-assessment or summative/

formal assessment, not only exhibited Kevin’s drastic

change of the science concept, but also informed Heather

of the level of progress he made. This can further be

demonstrated by the drawings produced by a 5-year-old

girl, before and after instruction, in regards to the science

concept of the sequential colors of the rainbow (see

Figs. 5,6). Figure 5 shows that the child did not have any

knowledge of what the first color of the rainbow is, nor did

she have any idea of the sequential colors of the rainbow.

The adult utilized a non-fiction children’s book, questions

and answers, a hands-on activity to help the child construct

the science concept. Figure 6 demonstrates the child’s

understanding of the science concept, clearly and correctly

depicting not only the red as the first color of the rainbow,

but also the correct sequence of the colors of the rainbow.

Drawing demonstrates a significant use of meaningful

assessment similar to the Work Sampling System devel-

oped by Meisels (1997) and Bridging by Chen and

McNamee (2007).

Drawing as an assessment takes place in a context that

can illuminate what children are learning and what they

have learned. Bowker (2007) also believed that the analysis

of children’s illustrations was an effective method of

assessing some aspects of learning. Brenneman and Louro

(2008) asserted that children’s written expression (journals/

drawing and writing) functioned ‘‘as an assessment tool by

providing teachers with critical information about how

individual children conceptualize a particular science

experience’’ (p. 113). Using drawings as a measurement

tool is neither an add-on activity (Charlesworth and Lind

Fig. 3 Josiah’s first attempt to describe the lifecycle cycle of an apple

Fig. 4 Josiah’s enhanced understanding of the lifecycle cycle of an

apple

190 Early Childhood Educ J (2012) 40:187–193

123

2010) nor ‘‘an on-demand test’’ (Meisels 1997), but rather

it is a practice that is integral to instruction (Charlesworth

and Lind 2010; Chen and McNamee 2007; Cresp and

Kyriakides 2007; Meisels 1997).

Informing Instruction

Akin to the Work Sampling System (Meisels 1997) and

Bridging (Chen and McNamee 2007), teachers purpose-

fully forge the connection between their instruction and

student learning; this significant assessment mechanism

seamlessly unites with curriculum content and teaching

strategies (Brenneman and Louro 2008; Chang 1996, 2007;

Charlesworth and Lind 2010; Chen and McNamee 2007;

Gullo 2006; Meisels 1997). For example, Heather was

informed by Kevin’s first drawing that the aspects of the

number of legs and of body parts should be emphasized

over the course of the instruction. The ideology that

translating assessment data derived from the child’s

drawing into instruction echoes the call made by Freeman

and Brown (2008) that school and its curriculum must fit

the learning needs and rights of young children rather than

the other way around.

Promoting Knowledge Construction

Furnishing teachers with information useful for instruction,

drawings also offer children milieus in which to construct

knowledge (Brenneman and Louro 2008; Chang 1996,

2007, 2011; Edwards et al. 1998; Katz 1998). For instance,

even though a science concept central to the lesson had

already been determined in light of Kevin’s expressed

interest, drawing a picture at the very beginning of the

lesson further piqued his curiosity. The heightened degree

of interest drew his attention closer to the learning activi-

ties that followed (Fello et al. 2007). Because of his

increased desire to learn, Kevin consciously and volun-

tarily modified his first drawing soon after he saw the cover

of the storybook. Furthermore, in producing the second

drawing in symbolic forms in order to show his full

understanding of the science concept, Kevin actually went

through a series of thought processes by ‘‘rewinding the

tape’’ of the book being read and discussions being con-

ducted. Kevin’s learning benefited from the integration of

drawing into disciplinary inquiry, which is particularly

supported by Cresp and Kyriakides (2007). Cresp and

Kyriakides affirmed that students who relied on drawings

to comprehend mathematical operations did achieve better

learning outcomes.

Promoting Affective Learning

The use of drawing to support young children’s acquisition

of science concepts made the learning atmosphere invigo-

rating and enjoyable (Chang 2007, 2011). Freudenheim

(2005) viewed drawing, as a natural cathartic expressive

medium, which stimulated a positive affective process. The

adult-child interaction in this context gives rise to positive

learning attitudes, conducive to a child’s subsequent

schooling. There is a strong association between a learner’s

positive emotions and effective learning, which is sup-

ported by sensitive adults with an emotionally supportive

learning environment and strategies (Frenzel et al. 2007;

Mottet and Beebe 2002).

Emotional involvement in learning also results from

an adult’s behaviors displayed through dialogic

Fig. 5 Gabby’s first attempt to demonstrate her understanding of the

science concept of the colors of the rainbow

Fig. 6 Gabby’s mastery of the concept of the colors of the rainbow

Early Childhood Educ J (2012) 40:187–193 191

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communications. The act of adults’ listening to young chil-

dren, when they are explaining drawings, is an indication that

the adults care about their learning and what they have to say,

which, in turn, motivates young children to become more

involved and animated during concept acquisition (Scheinfeld

et al. 2008).

Small Group Interaction

Interactive communication is effective not only between an

adult and a child, but also in a small group setting. In

addition to all the benefits identified above, children attain

additional merits by engaging with peers in a small group

setting. They are able to learn from each other by assisting

and listening to one another, and by taking different per-

spectives. The following provides a brief example to

showcase how a science concept of the Water Cycle was

acquired by a small group of young children under a tea-

cher’s guidance.

The brief example: a few kindergarten children were

unhappy as the rain prevented them from having recess.

Kathy, the classroom teacher, asked, ‘‘Why do you think

we can’t go outside when it’s raining?’’ ‘‘Because it’s

wet,’’ replied the children. ‘‘What happens to the ground

when it rains?’’ continued Kathy. ‘‘There are mud pud-

dles,’’ replied the children. The next day, the sun came out

and dried up all the mud puddles. ‘‘Where do you think the

water in the mud puddles went?’’ asked Kathy. ‘‘Now I

would like you to draw me a picture of the water cycle,’’

Kathy continued, ‘‘That is, where do you think water

comes from and where do you think it goes?’’

Jane was the first to complete the drawing, and Kathy

began questioning her: ‘‘Please tell me about your picture,

Jane.’’ ‘‘I drew a tree because trees need water,’’ she said.

‘‘What else would you like to tell me?’’ Kathy asked. ‘‘The

tree is standing there waiting for water.’’ Jane added. James

was next, ‘‘Um a tree and water and the sun to dry it.’’

Sarah was the last one to speak, ‘‘A flower needs water.’’

After Kathy thanked the children for their explanations of

the drawings, she continued, ‘‘Now, let’s read this book to

find out what the water cycle is.’’ After reading aloud,

Kathy asked the children questions relating to the science

concept. Before having the children draw another picture,

she asked the children to place picture cards of the water

cycle in the correct order. The children explained why each

card was placed in its corresponding order. Kathy asked

Sarah, ‘‘Sarah could you explain why you put (the cards)

that way?’’ ‘‘The sun was first and then the cloud and then

the rain,’’ responded Sarah. After the children finished their

explanations of the order of the cards, the teacher asked the

children to draw another picture of the water cycle to see

how well they learned the concept. After the drawing

activity, Kathy invited the children to share their drawing

content: ‘‘Could you tell me about your drawing?’’ ‘‘This is

a rain, cloud, um, this is water, and that’s the sun,’’

explained James. ‘‘… the water, and there’s the cloud and

the sun in the sky,’’ said Sarah. ‘‘There’s the cloud, the

rain, and the mud puddle, and the sun,’’ replied Jane. Upon

reviewing the drawings and listening to the children’s oral

interpretations of their drawings, Kathy noticed that the

children, except for Jane, did not seem to completely

understand the basic concept of the water cycle. Hence,

reteaching must take place before moving on to the next

lesson. (Author’s note: Since the article concentrates on the

roles that drawings played in the young children’s con-

struction of science concepts or how drawings were uti-

lized in the interactive communication with young children

on science concepts, the specific procedure, instructional

strategies, and materials used in helping the young children

acquire the science concept in the example are marginal-

ized. However, it is necessary to make it clear that the

children chiefly acquired the science concept through the

adult’s reading aloud a non-fiction children’s book, which

illustrates the meaning of collection, evaporation, con-

densation, and precipitation. To help the young children

understand the concept, the teacher simplified the complex

water cycle system. That is, when it rains, the water is

collected in a puddle and picked up by plants’ roots and

leaves (collection). When the Sun comes out, the water

collected in the puddle (along with water transpired from

plants) evaporates in the air (evaporation). A mass of small

drops or particles of water form cloud when they meet with

cold air (condensation). When cloud particles hit one

another and grow heavily, they fall out of the sky as rain

(precipitation). After reading aloud the book, the teacher

led the children to discuss the book content. Then, the

teacher informally assessed the children’s learning by

question and answer, and by having the children engage in

the card activity. The children were asked to place, in the

sequential order, four cards representing the four aspects of

the water cycle. The purpose of the activity is to promote

the children’s ability to order or to sequence objects, which

is essential to acquire knowledge in other subject areas,

such as Language Arts, Mathematics, and Social Studies.

The activity also provided the teacher with preliminary

results of the children’s learning, which was further sub-

stantiated by the children’s drawings and their explanations

of the drawings.)

Conclusion

Children’s drawings play various roles in young children’s

acquisition of science concepts. Drawing can display

children’s levels of conceptual understandings, help

192 Early Childhood Educ J (2012) 40:187–193

123

facilitate language and literacy competencies, inform

instruction, promote children’s construction of knowledge,

and promote their motivation to learn, which is critical to

their subsequent schooling and lifetime knowledge pursuit.

In daily routines there are various opportunities for

adults to engage children in meaningful interactions in

school or home settings. The interaction can be planned or

unplanned depending on adults’ intuitive decision making

and their knowledge of the individual children. Owing to

the appropriate strategies employed by the adults described

in this article, Kevin and the group of young children rel-

ished being partners with the adults and paid focused

attention to common referents–the topics of learning–

through the entire learning processes. The use of drawing

as a scaffolding tool made the interactive moments

between the adults and children playful and relaxing. Yet,

interactions were meaningful, purposeful, educational,

worthwhile, and the learning gained through interactive

communication was significant.

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