The joint influence of the variables educational level and gender on children's drawings of the plant world

Abstract

Drawing is a form of creative expression that children enjoy from a young age. Drawing is also an effective and engaging strategy for exploring children's comprehension of the natural world. Examination of the content, colours, and developmental changes of children's drawings can provide us with valuable insights into how understanding of plant life develops during childhood. In this regard, previous studies have analysed the relationship that the representations that children draw when graphically expressing their understanding of the plant world have with the variables gender and educational level. This line of research has established that children's drawings of the plant world vary significantly when those drawn by older children are compared with those drawn by younger students and that the differences between girls and boys seem irrelevant. However, no studies have investigated the combined influence that both variables (gender and educational level) have on children's representation of the plant world. This study investigated this influence by examining 251 drawings by young children (aged 4–7 years). The results indicated that gender and educational level influenced key pictorial elements. Thus, that when comparing the understanding of biological phenomena through drawings between girls and boys, it is important to control for educational level.

Keywords

• drawing
• Biological understanding
• Plant life
• Primary education
• Kindergarten