Development of Biological Literacy through Drawing Organisms

This chapter is about how children’s drawings convey their level of conceptual understanding of organisms. Drawings are a useful pedagogical tool as a window to investigate children’s conceptual knowledge and the meanings they give to this form of expression. We analyzed the drawings collected from pupils living in rural areas, towns, and suburban areas in Brazil. Louv (2008) has written that young children may be out of touch with wildlife in developed countries. However, in every culture children can be seen as interested in living things, identifying, classifying, and seeking patterns, especially about animals (Tomkins & Tunnicliffe, 2007).

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