Analyzing Drawings by Children in a Psychological Way - Essay Example

Topic Children’s daily problems can be recognized by their arts: analysing children’s drawings in a psychological way. Location The research will be carried out in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In KSA the early childhood studies settings are called kindergartens, and they host children from the age of 2 up to 5. This research project will take place in the capital city of Saudi Arabia which is Riyadh. Both governmental and private sector kindergartens will be selected for this research project. Research Questions 1. What type of drawings indicates poor performance among children for the experts to apply measures that would improve children’s performance in class? 2. What sort of drawings indicate ideal performance that would suggest later success in life so that it may be replicated to enhance the chance of success of children in Saudi Arabia when they reach adulthood? 3. Given the diagnostic characteristic of drawings, which drawings suggest problematic symptoms among children? 4. Are symptoms manifested in the drawings of children conclusive? To what extent? Importance This research is very important to the early childhood field in my country, because it is about children’s art which plays a dynamic part in preschool education. In the Saudi kindergarten curriculum, there is the subject of art that trains children to be creative and innovative, and their artistic abilities are developed (Alaqeel, 2005). Furthermore, this kind of subject “aims to develop the senses of children and how to use the tools of drawing, colouring, coordination and expressions of feelings and ideas” (Alsonbel et al, 2008:163). Educational policy in Saudi Arabia specified the educational objectives of kindergartens in Saudi, and one of the main aims is to ‘encourage a child’s innovative energy and give him the opportunity to express the creativity which is inside him (Ministry of Education, 1994). Similarly, the Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf countries (1991) pointed out that the general objectives of preschools are to develop artistic and aesthetic tastes in children through classroom and non-classroom activities. In relation to psychology, kindergarten children are mostly too young to express themselves through talking. This does not exclude the fact that they still require critical care during their kindergarten days. As such, teachers have to devise a non-verbal means of understanding the children, and that is where their drawings come in. The idea lies in the fact that children draw as per their feelings. The second relevance is in that in Saudi Arabia, there is scarcity of understanding in this matter since not much information about it is disseminated under early childhood development in Saudi universities. Collectively, the research will provide analysis of children’s drawing as an alternative means of understanding kindergarten children by their teachers. The objective to be attained is better understanding between the teachers and kids, thus better relationships and better learning and/or teaching. Literature Grimm and Skowronek acknowledge that kindergarten teaching can be affected by communication problems since every child possesses their unique qualities. Specifically for Saudi Arabia, Lippman (2012) discusses the problems of poor kindergarten teaching in the region.Straus and Wehrle (2007) provide an in-depth elaboration on how children’s drawings and paintings relate to their stages of bodily growth. Similarly, Malchiodi and Gil (2012) emphasize on the need for clinicians to integrating drawing into therapy so they can provide a better understanding of what children show in their artworks. Cox (1992) and Kellog (1970) show how drawings can be used for diagnostic purposes. According to Goodnow (1980), kindergarten kids draw what they have in mind, so in learning it, teachers can understand them better. Mecham (2007) outlines the multiple impacts of using creativity such as art in understanding children. A study conducted by Al-Rabiah (2008) reveals that the quality of kindergarten education determines the quality of a child’s life later in life. Chakroun and Safieh (2012) discuss the role of drawing in revealing children’s creativity at early stages in early childhood education. Ibrahim and Aljughaiman (2009) second Chakroun and Safieh in highlighting the use of children’s art in identifying gifted minds. They further define how this can apply in the Saudi Kingdom. The commitment of the Saudi Kingdom ministry to improve its quality of kindergarten education is provided by Al Shaer (2007). Steffani and Paula (2009) outline the relationship between drawing and other kindergarten subjects such as writing, math, and literacy. Kindergarten teachers believe that teacher-student relationships are key to a quality dissemination of kindergarten education. As such, they emphasize on measures to foster it. A study conducted by Structured Learning IT Teaching Team (2013), similar results indicated that kindergarten children develop mutual relationships with their teachers through art activities. Such leads to the establishment of a conducive environment. Finally, the importance of developing mutuality between the two parties is defined by Damon et al (2006) in that it creates an emotional connection which leads to perfect adjustment in the kindergarten kids. Methodology A mixed methods approach will be employed to collect the data, which will combine quantitative data collection from questionnaires and qualitative data collection from observations. Connelly (2009) points out that mixed methods allow researchers to cover a wider range of issues within their research questions, since some issues may be better covered by one approach than others. Questionnaires will be sent to the teachers of a few kindergartens, and also to the parents of preschool children. Their views are very important because of they are more knowledgeable and experienced using modern digital devices than children. Much research has been conducted on the tendencies of research respondents to over-exaggerate teacher’s competencies (Davis, 2008) and this could lead the results to suggest that preschools’ teachers contribute to disclosure of the effects arising from the iPad on the talent of children, particularly drawing. Therefore, questionnaires will be useful to express their opinions about the role of iPad on children’s talents at kindergartens. Observation will be also conducted on children’s drawing activity at preschools for many reasons. Firstly, the key element of this study is to see the interaction between children and the device, and the impact of this relationship on their talents. Secondly, to see whether this iPad contributes to produce a well piece of work or not, as ‘the researcher need to be much more involved in the lives of the people being observed’ (Dawson, 2009). Thirdly, there are some limitations of questionnaires method, as Tashakkori and Teddlie (2003) state some significant limitations of the questionnaire that (1) some information might be lost; the possibility of missing responses. Otherwise, these kinds of work will be shown as examples in the result of the study. Arrangements and access When I start writing my PhD study, I will make arrangements with some preschools in Riyadh in order to collect data at the end of the second year. Initially, I have discussed the idea with some of the staff from the early childhood department at Shaqra University which is the university I work in as a lecturer. They advised me that collection of data for PhD studies on Saudi kindergartens is easily obtained, and these places are always welcoming to any student who wants to collect data. Shaqra University also has facilitated some preschools to collect data from, besides the student’s choice to collect data from preschools already chosen. Timed objectives I will be a full time PhD student, so I hope to achieve my proposed study by the end of each year of the three years planned. At the end of year one, I hope to finish the first part of my study which is the literature review. At the end of the second year I hope I can finish the methodology approach and research methods and start to collect data, for which I have to go to my country Saudi Arabia. At the beginning of the third year, I can show the result of the study and start to analyse and discuss this data. References Alali, A. (2013) Releasing iPad Project ‘Unlimited Knowledge’ in Saudi Schools. Sabq Online Newspaper, 1st Sept. Alaqeel, A (2005) Education Policy and System in Saudi Arabia. Riyadh: Alrushd Liberary. Alsonbel, A., Metwally, M., Al-khatib, M., and AbdulJawad, N. (2008) Education System in The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia. Riyadh: Dar Khuriji for publication and distribution. Alzaher, h. (2013) the children of iPad: Creative generation with less health. Okaz online newspapers, 16th Sept. Arab Bureau of Education for the countries of Gulf (1991) ‘Seminar of kindergarten in the Arab Gulf Countries’. Riyadh: The Publisher. Bolstad, R. (2004) the role and potential of ICT in early childhood education: A review of New Zealand and international literature. New Zealand council for Educational Research, Wellington Brooks, M. (2009) Drawing to learn. In M. Narey (Ed.) Making meaning: constructing multimodal perspectives of language, literacy, and learning through arts-based early childhood Education (Vol. 2, pp. 9-30). NY: Springer. Cohen, L. and Manion, L. (1994) Research Methods in Education. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Connelly, L. M. (2009) Mixed Methods Studies. MEDSURG Nursing, 18(1), pp. 252-431. Davis, J. L. (2008) Pre-service teachers’ changing self-perception of competency in computer knowledge and skills. New Orleans, LA: Southwest Educational Research Association. Dawson, C. (2009) Introduction to Research Methods: A practical guide for anyone undertaking a research project (4th ed). Oxford: How To Books. Mathieson, K. (1993) Childrens art and the computer. London: Hodder & Stoughton. Palaiologou, I., (2014) Children under Five and Digital Technologies: Implication for Early Years Pedagogy, in The European Early Childhood Research Journal, vol 24 (1) (printed copy publication 2016) (DOI:10.1080/1350293X.2014.929876). Tashakkori, A. and Teddlie, C. (2003) Handbook of mixed methods in social & behavioral research. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage. The Ministry of Education (1994) the Policy of Education in Saudi Arabia. Riyadh: The Publisher. Yeow, J. (2012) iPad in Education: A case study of iPad adoption and use in Primary School. New Zealand: University of Auckland. Read More