Young Pupils and Visual-Spatial Ability/Intelligence

Abstract

At Key Stage 1, the programme of study for Design and Technology in the National Curriculum in Wales, in relation to ‘Designing Skills’ (ACCAC, 2000:8), simply states that, ‘Pupils should be taught to record their ideas, e.g. using words, pictures, sketches and ICT.’  This paper provides details of a small scale study centred on the extent to which infant children, as guided learners, are able to utilise a more formalised drawing strategy (orthographic projection) as a means of generating, communicating and recording ideas, thereby supporting young children’s ability to visualise objects, or parts of an object from different perspectives, in an appropriately realistic manner. A key rationale for the study was that of identifying ‘relatively exceptional performance’, in respect of visual-spatial awareness; that is, a recognition of children who display an aptitude for depicting objects (in this case design ideas) by way of utilising appropriate graphical representations/viewpoints as a means of achieving greater ‘visual realism’. Here, realism is seen to be reflected by the children’s recognition and representation of how their product is to function: a vehicle carrying a chocolate cream egg securely, while it runs down a slope, along their classroom floor and through a finishing line (details below). The study attempts to shed some light on this issue by comparing output from what are termed ‘free’ and ‘taught/guided’ drawings. Initial results suggest that, with guidance, young children generally depict design ideas with a sharper focus on elements relevant to the desired functioning of their product, including a move away from what I have termed, ‘personal contextualisation’: the desire to include components that, whilst indicative of young children’s personal experiences, have limited practical bearing in terms of that which will eventually be manufactured