Exploring the potential of drawing to enhance observation and rooting us to the real world
Samvaad on the cognitive importance of drawing.
From the last three years of observation, documentation and reflection of what children have been drawing it clearly suggests that drawing is more than an just artistic expression. There is a clear connection between what children experience, what children play and what children draw. Study of drawing itself points to the changes the child is going through in terms of perception, articulation and abstraction.
The development of writing among humans also have drawing as a kind of precedence. Some of the scripts even now have the quality of drawing- especially Chinese etc. Designers, Architects are known to have been utilizing the cognitive potential for observation, analysis and visualization for a long time and so also the new methods like mind mapping is also trying to use this.
As we observed thousand of drawing it is getting clear about its cognitive potential. Historically too drawing did precede writing and even persisted in some of the alphabets. So it is important to treat drawing as a pre literacy tool. it becomes more important considering the fact that all children can draw naturally and writing needs more exposure to particular alphabet and needs to be initiated.
It is clear that written description and the drawn description of the same event evoke different responses. The way these impact one's brain also differs substantially. So even in terms of one's understanding of the world can be impacted by use of drawing. Drawing is much more universal and less ambiguous.
In the context of present day schooling the role of drawing needs to be re assessed. As of now drawing is considered a part of the subject called art and disconnected from what are considered to be important 'subjects'. The way drawing is practiced in most schools are fundamentally harmful and it is because its potential for cognition or making sense of the world has not been explored. Connection between language as a tool for describing and also drawing as a tool for describing has not been explored.
Drawing has even much more role than explored in our schools. Drawing is to be seen as an observation tool and children are naturally doing it.
What conditions evoke children to draw or how to create an environment that let children draw spontaneously. Also what prevents and inhibits this natural tendency.
The real meaning of the child learns to speak means the child learns to articulate its understanding of the world. The child's language cannot be separated from the experience she is having of the world.
There is the integrity of its experience of the world with the language or languages she uses to express or articulate. The experience itself is concretized by way of play and in the modern context even through drawing. But if language is introduced artificially and not organically children will learn language disconnected from experience and disconnected from the integral nature of experience and language.
Since literacy has become a must in modern times it is important to develop it carefully and this has been an ongoing struggle to find out what is the best way to introduce writing skills to children.
This possibility in drawing needs to be explored.
We are thinking of conducting a samvaad on the cognitive potential of drawing in November. This is open to anyone who wants to explore this and we are eager that if anyone has been working on this to share their findings.
From the last three years of observation, documentation and reflection of what children have been drawing it clearly suggests that drawing is more than an just artistic expression. There is a clear connection between what children experience, what children play and what children draw. Study of drawing itself points to the changes the child is going through in terms of perception, articulation and abstraction.
The development of writing among humans also have drawing as a kind of precedence. Some of the scripts even now have the quality of drawing- especially Chinese etc. Designers, Architects are known to have been utilizing the cognitive potential for observation, analysis and visualization for a long time and so also the new methods like mind mapping is also trying to use this.
As we observed thousand of drawing it is getting clear about its cognitive potential. Historically too drawing did precede writing and even persisted in some of the alphabets. So it is important to treat drawing as a pre literacy tool. it becomes more important considering the fact that all children can draw naturally and writing needs more exposure to particular alphabet and needs to be initiated.
It is clear that written description and the drawn description of the same event evoke different responses. The way these impact one's brain also differs substantially. So even in terms of one's understanding of the world can be impacted by use of drawing. Drawing is much more universal and less ambiguous.
In the context of present day schooling the role of drawing needs to be re assessed. As of now drawing is considered a part of the subject called art and disconnected from what are considered to be important 'subjects'. The way drawing is practiced in most schools are fundamentally harmful and it is because its potential for cognition or making sense of the world has not been explored. Connection between language as a tool for describing and also drawing as a tool for describing has not been explored.
Drawing has even much more role than explored in our schools. Drawing is to be seen as an observation tool and children are naturally doing it.
What conditions evoke children to draw or how to create an environment that let children draw spontaneously. Also what prevents and inhibits this natural tendency.
The real meaning of the child learns to speak means the child learns to articulate its understanding of the world. The child's language cannot be separated from the experience she is having of the world.
There is the integrity of its experience of the world with the language or languages she uses to express or articulate. The experience itself is concretized by way of play and in the modern context even through drawing. But if language is introduced artificially and not organically children will learn language disconnected from experience and disconnected from the integral nature of experience and language.
Since literacy has become a must in modern times it is important to develop it carefully and this has been an ongoing struggle to find out what is the best way to introduce writing skills to children.
This possibility in drawing needs to be explored.
We are thinking of conducting a samvaad on the cognitive potential of drawing in November. This is open to anyone who wants to explore this and we are eager that if anyone has been working on this to share their findings.