Greetings Dwiemer:
My instinct screams "Yes! Of course!" but I still endeavored to find
you examples from online reports. A few of the references I found
were from private school websites so I did not include those because
it might be considered unbiased. However, I did include university
references as well as government white papers that hold drawing by
children as both necessary for motor skills as well as revealing of
their emotions.
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From http://www.arts.ufl.edu/art/rt_room/teach/encounters/drawing_encounters.html
comes "Of all the art skills one might find useful to nurture and to
develop in children, drawing has always been the most important. In
its simplest form, drawing consists of making a mark or leaving a
trail on a surface...As infants we begin to draw before we learn to
write. In fact, one could argue that writing is just a special form of
drawing."
This is the website of the University of Florida College for Fine Arts
and is material available for classroom teachers and homeschoolers. I
suggest you read the entire article as it has suggestions for short
drawing activities.
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This is from the report of Ged Gast, Associate Consultant in Art &
Design of the West Berkshire Council, West Berkshire, UK:
"It helps if children are able to respond directly to ‘first-hand’
experiences through sight, sound, smell and particularly to touch,
using visual resources, as well as artefacts and other ‘natural’ or
‘created’ sources of stimulus. This allows children to respond
intuitively and expressively to the stimulus and can enable teachers
to begin to direct the learning through the selection of media and
tools through for example, cutting, mark-making, and sticking.
Resources need to be accessible and children can be encouraged to make
choices within an identified range of options. They should also have
opportunities to talk about their work and the choices they have
made."
From http://ww2.westberks.gov.uk/artsweb/news/archive/art%20and%20design/Creative%20Pre%20school.htm
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In his white paper, William Evans, Assistant Professor Human
Development and Family Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno,
wrote:
"The projective drawing technique described here to aid in program
evaluation is based in part on the work of Koppitz (1983). She
believes that drawing is a natural mode of expression for young
children: "During the elementary school years, boys and girls can
express their thoughts and feelings often better in visual images than
in words" (p. 2).
"In addition, this technique also reflects the work of others,
including Buck (1948), Machover (1949), Burns and Kaufman (1970), and
Knoff and Prout (1985), who have developed conceptual frameworks to
interpret children's drawings. Many investigators have demonstrated
that children's drawings can reflect self- concept, attitudes, wishes,
and concerns (Golomb, 1992; Burns, 1982; Klepsch & Logie, 1982;
Koppitz, 1968)...children's drawings have been used for a variety of
assessment purposes, including intellectual development (Harris, 1963;
Goodenough, 1926), learning disabilities (Cox & Howarth, 1989),
personality (Prout, 1983; Wade, Baker, Morton & Baker, 1978; Hulse,
1951; Machover, 1949), and emotional adjustment (Koppitz, 1968)."
From JOE, the Journal of Extension, "the official refereed electronic
journal of the nationwide Cooperative Extension System" at
http://www.joe.org/joe/1996december/a2.html
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In a research paper from Mary Stein and Shannan McNair, Oakland
University, titled "Science drawings as a tool for analyzing
Conceptual Understanding"by "the authors wrote:
"Through drawing, students are free to include and/or place emphasis
on ideas that are interesting to them or central to their
understandings. Pictures drawn by a student can reveal how he or she
perceives an object, and the degree to which a student observes
details and represents them. They can serve as a "window" to a
student's conceptual knowledge...the process of drawing provokes
questions and invites clarification. As a result, children reconstruct
earlier concepts, and are able to revisit their representations in
order to more completely understand an idea. Children can use drawings
to problem-solve, or to re-think an idea. In this way, drawing is
both a learning experience and an embedded assessment. Embedded
assessments build upon teaching practice, rather than interrupting the
process."
From http://www.ed.psu.edu/CI/Journals/2002aets/s5_stein_mcmair.rtf
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On a personal note, my friends who are successful artists began their
careers as avid doodlers. Short drawing lessons definitely encourage
individual perception, motor skills, imagination - I believe they are
as beneficial to a child's education as any other "drill."
Also, I discovered a blurb at
http://teachers.fiskars.com/homework_survival.html a homework help
site hosted by Fiskars. The article read in part:
"Don't strain your brain! Plan short study breaks as rewards for
getting work done. Take a five-to ten-minute doodle break for each
hour spent studying. Doodle breaks inspire creativity and promote
learning."
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Should you require any clarification of the links or information I
have provided, please request it and I will be happy to respond.
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