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Sharpening the gaze, sharpening the pencil: supporting observational drawing in primary education
Örebro University.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-9233-3691
Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of applied educational science. (RECEUM; UmSER)ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7273-5442
Linköping University.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-8709-8551
University of Borås.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-7357-0122
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2025 (English)In: Journal of Biological Education, ISSN 0021-9266, E-ISSN 2157-6009Article in journal (Refereed) Epub ahead of print
Abstract [en]

This article explores how teachers can support students’ observational drawing skills in the biology classroom. The article is based on classroom data from a collaborative project involving primary school teachers, arts educators, and researchers. Together, we have planned and implemented classroom interventions, aiming to contribute knowledge about the pedagogical potentials of drawing in science. In this article, we analyse one teacher’s way of teaching observational drawing to 8-year-old students. Our analysis reveals two main teaching emphases: (1) the interplay between observing and drawing and (2) the visual characteristics of natural objects, particularly the shape, colour, and specific details of different species. Our findings provide valuable insights for educators who seek to integrate observational drawing into science education. First, we highlight the significance of the teacher’s content knowledge in biology, as it corresponds to the ability to guide students’ attention to specific details in natural objects. Second, we show the pedagogical potential of providing explicit feedback during the drawing process in terms of encouraging students to make detailed and realistic drawings while also making them visually engaging. Lastly, we show that the teacher makes use of verbal, bodily, and visual resources to create a collaborative space for communication around student drawings.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Routledge, 2025.
Keywords [en]
biology education, social semiotics, species knowledge, teaching strategies, visual representations
National Category
Pedagogical Work Didactics
Research subject
educational work; didactics of natural science
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-235117DOI: 10.1080/00219266.2025.2452188ISI: 001412978100001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85216795070OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-235117DiVA, id: diva2:1935384
Part of project
Drawing to learn and learning to draw in primary school science, Swedish Research Council
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2019-03429Available from: 2025-02-06 Created: 2025-02-06 Last updated: 2025-03-11

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Areljung, Sofie

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Skoog, MarianneAreljung, SofieAndersson, JohannaHermansson, CarinaSundberg, Bodil
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