Students draw (express graphically) their knowledge or thinking processes.
Drawing can be used at the beginning of a unit/lesson to record pre-instructional knowledge and understanding, mid-unit to identify remaining questions, or at the unit conclusion to highlight completed concept maps or diagrams.
Students can profit from learning activities that include drawing their knowledge (or their thinking processes). Drawing necessitates student reflection on their learning experiences, allowing those experiences to be more productive. To represent their knowledge graphically, students must organize their knowledge, think conceptually, address relationships, and communicate clearly. Many formats are available for students to show their knowledge graphically, including simple drawings, flowcharts, concept/mind maps, Venn diagrams, matrices, etc. Completed drawings/graphics allow students, or work groups, to more easily remember and store their new knowledge, and provide a framework for sharing or reporting on their learning.
Why Kids Should Draw More: The Powerful Effects of Drawing on Learning: Edutopia
The students in Advanced Social Work Practice II used drawings to document their experiences and prior knowledge about professional supervision provided to social workers. Visual representations (simple drawings) were created at the beginning of class to document their knowledge and experience rather than submitting a written assignment; students were asked to “draw your supervision”. Students shared their drawings with peers in small groups, looking for similarities and differences in experiences prior to reconvening as a full class. Since all classmates had made drawings, the level of engagement was high.
The class was then asked to collaboratively identify or build a model of what a research-informed model of social work supervision would include. Students examined topics informed by their drawings of things they suspected would and would not be included. Next, content from two research articles about evidence-informed supervision was brought forward for students to compare and contrast with their collective model. By representing their own knowledge in a drawing and working to construct knowledge with their peers prior to reading the research, students ended the lesson with a clear understanding of both the research, but also what social work supervision looks like, and could look like, in practice.
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