Running head: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH 1

Qualitative Research Report

Haley Havens
University of Missouri































QUALITATIVE RESEARCH 2


Qualitative Research Report
The analysis of this young students artwork provides another topic for future
teachers to explore-child art development. This study was created to show the importance
of that topic. The readings established by expert authors provided me with guidelines
about the ages and development stages of child artists. The analysis required careful
reading of these specific authors to determine the development stage of the child whose
drawing I was examining. Investigating this artwork will deepen my understanding of the
importance of art in a general education classroom. I believe that after this investigation I
will have a greater understanding of the significance of child art development, and how I
can encourage my students to grow.
Method
During this study I analyzed a young childs piece of artwork and took into
consideration many fundamental art topics. I began by reading many different articles
located in the MizzouPublishing Packet for the course Art for Children LTC 4240. The
articles I read included those by; Brittain & Lowenfeld (1970), Kellogg (1970), Wilson &
Wilson (1982), and Maryland Board of Education of Baltimore County (1974). I then
explored the students artwork by relating it to the information that was found in the
readings. I read these thoroughly and highlighted key points that I saw within the students
art. I also marked the important themes onto the students piece of art where they
happened to appear. Once I completed this routine for all three of the readings, it was time
to examine what I had noticed.
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Findings

Through the research of reading the articles, I found that this child used multiple
principles, and was placed between stages. Brittain and Lowenfeld (1970) made me aware
of the capabilities of this child in his/her developmental stages. This child artist seems to
be placed mainly in the Schematic Stage with a miniscule amount in the Gang Age (Brittain
& Lowenfeld, 1970). The piece of artwork contains a two dimensional person placed on a
baseline, to show the separation of the sky and ground. According to the Schematic Stage
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in Brittain & Lowenfeld (1970), creating this baseline clearly distinguishes the sky from the
ground. The person and bat figure show no overlapping, which incorporates the Schematic
Stage as well (Brittain & Lowenfeld, 1970). The figure includes many geometric shapes as
well as texture within the arms and legs. This provides the picture with some volume,
backing up another key point from the Schematic Stage (Brittain & Lowenfeld, 1970). The
hat on the figure is made of multiple rectangles stacked on top of one another and the face
is a round circle.
The young artist incorporates more details in his/her piece of art, and by doing so it
placed this student partly in the Gang Age (Brittain & Lowenfeld, 1970). A stern expression
was placed on the figures face, along with eyes, nose, and a mouth on the bats face. This
displayed the artists capabilities to add further details to give the piece more depth. The
picture showed the man significantly larger than the bat, which demonstrated this young
artists ability to show the depth through size of objects (Brittain & Lowenfeld, 1970).
Kellogg (1970) presented all the different types of scribbles that are considered to
be the start of childrens art at a very young age. Reading through this I noticed that one of
the scribbles is the single diagonal line, (Kellogg, R, 1970) which was discovered in the
drawing that I adopted. The eyes on the human figure were two of these single diagonal
lines. The diagonal lines communicated to the viewers that the artist was portraying the
figure to have stern eyes. Kellogg (1970) also pointed out that young artists will make
scribbles that go from one edge to the opposite edge. This young artist made scribbles
underneath the baseline that he/she created at the bottom of the page. The scribbles went
from the left side of the page to the right, which is exactly what Kellogg (1970) explained.
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Wilson & Wilson (1982) focused on why childrens drawings look a certain way and
characterized principles according to main concepts they had found. This young artist
incorporated multiple principles within the one drawing. The figure in this artwork was
placed on the baseline, therefor forming a 90-degree angle to the baseline (Wilson &
Wilson, 1982). The young artist used the perpendicular principle by creating this 90-degree
angle with the figure and the baseline. The same principle was also present in the bend of
the leg, creating a 90-degree angle between the thigh and the calf. The territorial
imperative principle articulates the need for the objects to have their own space declaring
no overlap (Wilson & Wilson 1982). The young artist applied this principle because the
figure and the bat have their allotted space and are not touching. The fill-the-format
principle is present because of the lack of the amount of fingers and toes in the figure. The
drawing only displays four fingers and three toes, therefor having too few of fingers and
toes (Wilson & Wilson, 1982). The young artist may not have determined the size of the
hands and feet in order to fit the correct amount of phalanges before drawing. This
resulted in the inaccurate amount of fingers and toes in the drawing.
Conclusion
Overall, I found that the young artist displayed multiple principles and stages
throughout my research. The artist was discovered to be largely in the Schematic Stage
along with some characteristics from the Gang Age. According to Brittain & Lowenfeld
(1970), this child would be around the age of seven to nine years old. As a general
education classroom teacher, it is important to be aware of the broad spectrum of where
your students will be at in their artistic levels. The certain characteristics used as
guidelines from this research helped me become aware of what students should
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demonstrate at certain ages. Some students will be more artistically developed than
others, but all students are capable of producing art. If a child in your class is not
demonstrating the basic artistic concepts that his/her age calls for, as a teacher you can
continue to encourage that particular student. I believe that encouragement goes a long
way for any age and is a fundamental key to growth. As a supportive teachers role it is
important to continue to push your students in their artistic ability by inspiring them to
think outside the box. The Maryland Board of Education of Baltimore County (1974) offers
many examples of instruction for teachers. The article acts as a great resource for all
different artistic levels of students in a general education classroom. The instruction
encourages teachers to never try a push a child to the next stage, and to always promote
free expression (Maryland Board of Education of Baltimore County, 1974). From reading
all the different instruction suggestions, I will be using this resource throughout my years
as a teacher. In conclusion, this investigation allowed me to analyze the certain guidelines
that a specific age should be following artistically, opened my eyes to the wide range of
artistic abilities, and revealed how my role as a teacher can benefit a child artistically.








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References
Kellogg, R. (1970). Analyzing childrens art. Palo Alto, CA: National.
Lowenfeld, V., & Brittain, W. L. (1970). Creative and mental growth. New York: Macmillan.
Maryland Board of Education of Baltimore County. (1974). Beginning stages of visual
expression of young children. In Art Experience, Development of Visual Perception,
1-4.
Wilson, M., & Wilson, B. (1982). Teaching children to draw. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice
Hall.