What helps most in learning how to draw a human figure? A study of children`s epistemological, pictorial and learning conceptions

ECHENIQUE, M.; MÁRQUEZ, M. S.; SCHEUER, NORA

Cultura y Educación

Taylor & Francis

Lugar: Oxford; Año: 2014 vol. 26 p. 103 - 131

1135-6405

This study explores how school-aged children conceive relevant sources in learning how to draw the human figure: a live model, a photograph, a drawing and thought. Our purpose was to identify children ́s preferences in this regard, to study their evaluation of the potential for help they see in those sources, and analyse whether those justifications were related to children?s developmental-educational level. Sixty children from first (20), third (20) and fifth year of elementary school (20) were interviewed individually. Children?s preferences did not vary according to school level, but their justifications regarding the value of each source did. A developmental trend in the direction of a more flexible consideration of the drawer/learner?s agency and of an incipient epistemological multiplism was found. Results contribute to two fields of developmental-educational research: development of graphical representation and conceptions of learning and knowledge.