Learning Through Arts and Music
Research and Practice Seminar
Early Childhood Ireland Conference
Croke Park, Dublin
Friday 17th April 2015
Rachel Whelan,
Early Years Specialist
How Can I Support Drawing as a Meaning Making
Process in an Early Childhood Setting?
‘Drawing provides children with

Introduction
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Literature Review
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Methodology
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Findings
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Conclusions
their first means of making a
permanent, tangible, concrete,
and communicable record of
their ideas so that most young
children have a strong desire to
draw’ (Brooks 2009, 9).
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Context
Background
Rationale
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Drawing
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Draw to Learn
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Meaning Making
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Drawing and Telling
‘the process and product of making 2 dimensional visual
representations by line, using dry media’ (Hall 2010a, 23)
‘ the movement from simple spontaneous concepts to more
complex concepts’ (Brooks 2009,7).
The ability of young children to use drawing as a
communicative practice and a thinking tool, which supports
learning and development (Anning and Ring, 2004).
Combining what can be looked at (drawing) with what is said
(narrative) to support children in a genuine meaning making
experience which involves both body, mind, and heart. (Wright,
2007)
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Developmental Perspective
Deficit model of child development
Universal
Immature
Without meaning
Socio-cultural Perspective
Child is competent, powerful, connected to others
Socio-cultural semiotic activity
Powerful meaning making tool
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Piaget and
Inhelder
Froebel
Montessori
(1967)
(1988)
Kellogg
Lowenfeld and
Brittain
(1970)
(1956)
Golomb
(1987)
Matthews
(2003)
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(1981)
Vygotsky
Kress
(1978
(1997)
Malaguzzi
(Rinaldi, 2001)
Anning and Ring
Brooks
Wright
(2004)
(2009)
(2007)
Hall
(2010a)
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Action research is a systematic enquiry that
involves a cyclical process of planning action,
observation, and reflection (Koshy, 2010).
Action Research Model
(Kemmis and McTaggart cited in
Koshy, 2010)
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Personal ethics statement
Parental Consent
Child Assent
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Action research is by its nature a subjective
and intuitive process
◦ Reflective Diary
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Action research is both context specific and
small in sample size, and therefore findings
cannot be generalised
◦ Powerful knowledge base
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Draw to Learn: How can I support drawing as a
meaning making process in an early childhood
setting?
 Two Cycles of Action Research
 Third Cycle incomplete
 Four Themes
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Circle Time
Learning environment
Drawing Box
Drawing and Telling
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The Big Black Storm Child G
12/11/13
Child G: This is a big black storm
Me: What is this here?
Child G: The people’s lying down
Me: What is this beside the big black
storm?
Child G: That’s blicks
Me: What are blicks?
Child G: They are blicks falling down,
falling down, lots and lots falling down.
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Action Research Diary 13/11/13
Big Giant Octopus Fish
‘When Child A told me about her drawing of a fish I noticed that her language, like
yesterday when she drew a maze, contained words like big, little, giant, in, out. She also
expressed her ideas by using gestures she made using her hands and arms. This may indicate
exploration of particular concepts’
Action Research Diary 15/11/13
The Big Maze
‘Today the most significant thing I learnt about the children’s meaning
making was the fact that I was beginning to see some recurrent themes and a
crossover of themes/meanings within their drawings. Child A was again
referring to big and little and had again drawn a maze but this time she had
more detail in her drawing. Again this may be an indication of schema, in,
out, big, little. A possible opportunity for extending learning.’
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Mammy’s Bed
Daddy’s Rubbish
Racing
Bombs
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Action Research Diary 18/11/13
‘What has become apparent over the last six days is how
well the children make meaning through their drawings, both
their home, community and school life is reflected in what they
draw and tell me about their drawings. It is evident that they are
exploring different concepts about how the world works, they are
trying out new vocabulary and expressing themselves both
verbally and non verbally-big little, Typhoo, islands,- pointing,
moving hands, making noises. By listening to what they say I have
been able to assess both their learning and how that learning
might be extended. However one thing that has struck me as
significant from what I have collected so far, is the way the
children are interested in each other’s drawings, some following
a similar theme or just listening to each other tell about their
drawings. This last point indicates an idea for my next cycle of
research.
I have decided that what I plan to do to support the children even
further in their meaning making will be to prepare another circle
time activity in which we will review the drawings collected so
far. Also during this activity I plan to suggest to the children the
idea of buddy drawing and get some ideas from them on how I
can support this kind of drawing activity.
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Children Making Meaning
Building Relationships
Oral Language Development
Peer Involvement
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Circle Time Review
Drawing Together
Drawing Journal
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Action Research Diary 26/11/13
‘On arrival this morning into the setting three of the children
approached me with the drawing box and asked could they be
drawing buddies today. I set them up with a large sheet of paper
and asked did they want to draw while on the floor or at a table.
They chose a table. As I observed their activity, I heard them
discussing ideas about what to draw. Child C and Child B started
to draw a dinosaur and Child J was overheard saying ‘me too’.
Dinosaurs
As English is not Child J’s first language it was nice to hear him
communicating his ideas and understanding to the other children
in the group.
After the children had finished the drawing they each told me
about their dinosaurs, with Child J responding with ‘me too’, and
Snakes
then later in the session they got together again to draw some
snakes.
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Individual
Small Group
Action Research Diary 26/11/13
I am getting to that stage in this second cycle when I need to
consider another possible intervention to support the children’s
meaning making. I have noticed that in the last couple of days
some of the children are using the drawing journal to draw a
picture together, helping each other complete sections of the
drawing and then telling me about their drawing together.
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 Drawing Box and Drawing Journal
supported spontaneous drawing
activity, drawing together and drawing
and telling
 Buddy drawing supported drawing
together
 Drawing activity supported the
children in joint meaning making.
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Circle Time Review
Daily Group Activity
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Themes
Significance of Findings
Limitations
Implications for Practice and Policy
Recommendations
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Action research is a form of enquiry that enables
practitioners in every job and walk of life to
investigate and evaluate their work’ (McNiff and
Whitehead 2011, 7).
Hall states that in the context of the early
childhood setting practitioners should attempt to
appreciate the ‘complexity and understand the
communicative potential of young children’s
drawings’ (2010a, 386).
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Anning, Angela and Kathy Ring (2004) Making sense of children’s drawings. Maidenhead: Open University
Press.
Brooks, Margaret (2009) ‘Drawing to Learn’. In Narney, Marilyn, ed. Making Meaning: Constructing Multimodal
Perspectives of Language, Literacy, and Learning through an Art- based Early Childhood Education. USA:
Springer, 9-29.
Fletcher, S.S.F and Welton, J (Eds) (1912) Froebel’s Chief Writings on Education. London: Edward Arnold and
Co. Available from: http://studentzone.roehampton.ac.uk /library/digital-collection/froebel-archive/froebelchief-writing/index.html [accessed 31Oct 2013].
Golomb, Claire (2011)The Creation of Imaginary Worlds: The Role of Art, Magic and Dreams in Child
Development. England: Jessica Kingsley.
Hall Emese (2010a) ‘The Communicative Potential of Young Children's Drawings’. Open Research Exeter (ORE):
University of Exeter. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/10036/105041 [accessed 2 Sept 2013].
Kellogg Rhoda (1970) Analyzing Children’s Art. Palo Alto, CA: Mayfield Pub Co.
Koshy, Valsa (2010) Action Research for improving Educational Practice: A step by step.2nd edition, London;
Sage.
Kress, Gunther (1997) Rethinking the paths to Literacy. London: Routledge
Lilley, Irene M. (1967) Friedrich Froebel: A selection from his writings. London: Cambridge University Press.
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Lowenfeld, Viktor and W. Lambert Brittain (1987) Creative and mental growth. 8th edition, Upper Saddle
River, N.J: Prentice Hall.
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McNiff, Jean and Jack Whitehead (2011) All You Need to Know About Action Research. 2nd edition,
London: Sage.
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Matthews, John (2003) Drawing and Painting: Children and Visual Representation. 2nd ed. London: Sage.
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Montessori, Maria (1988) The Discovery of the Child: The Clio Montessori Series; v.2.Oxford, England.
Clio Press Ltd.
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Piaget, Jean and Barbel, Inhelder (1956) The Child’s Conception of Space. London: Routledge.
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Rinaldi, Carlina (2001) ‘The Pedagogy of Listening: The Listening Perspective from Reggio Emilia’.
Innovations in early education: the international Reggio exchange 8: 4, 1-4.Available from:
http://academic.udayton.edu/JamesBiddle/Pedagogy%20of%20Listening.pdf [accessed 29 Sept 2013].
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Wright, Susan (2007) ‘Graphic-narrative play: Young children’s authoring through drawing and telling’.
International Journal of Education and the Arts 8 (8), 1-28. Available from:
http://www.ijea.org/v8n8/v8n8.pdf [accessed 14 Sept 2013].
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Vygotsky, Lev (1978) Mind in Society. Cambridge, MA: Havard Unversity Press. Available from:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/vygotsky/index.htm [accessed 20 Oct 2013].
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