Dissertation Information for Judith Bonnie HarrisNAME:
DEGREE:
DISCIPLINE:
SCHOOL: ADVISORS: COMMITTEE MEMBERS: MPACT Status: Incomplete - Not_Inspected Title: The scope and interjudge agreement of information communicated through children's computer-facilitated and freehand drawings
Abstract: In what ways and to what extent do children's drawings communicate information about their school attitudes and behaviors? Does the scope and/or depth of this information, as it is perceived by computer-using classroom teachers, differ among different drawing media? In this exploratory, qualitative study, ten gifted fifth-grade boys who were proficient in Logo programming were asked to create three pictures each; one with crayons, magic markers, and/or colored pencils, a second with a touch-sensitive graphics tablet and accompanying graphics software, and a third with Logo. Thirteen Logo-using classroom teachers viewed the boys' creations, knowing nothing about the artists, and were asked to record any information that they intuited, including the artists' genders, ages, school subject preferences, learning styles, and behavior patterns. This observer data was then cross-referenced with thematically processed interview results, gathered from the child himself, a parent of his choice, and the most recent classroom teacher. Content agreement was sought both among individual informants and across informant groups (e.g., among individual viewing teachers and across all picture observers). Results showed that there was considerable individual difference among viewing teachers' interview-substantiated intuited artist information, as well as notable variation among artists, whose pictures differed in "intuitive readability." Across informants, 69% of all comments written by viewing teachers about the artists' school subject preferences, learning styles, and school behavior patterns agreed with information offered earlier by at least two interviewed informants. Viewers ascertained artist age to within one year in 43% of the attempted estimations, and artist gender correctly in 45% of the responses. There were no appreciable differences in percentages of interview-substantiated viewer intuitions among pictures created with the three different drawing media, with the exception of age perception, which was slightly more accurate when teachers looked at Logo pictures. Computer drawing tools, as compared with traditional drawing media, did not seem to impede the personally expressive content of these children's artistic works. The author recommends further research into the intuitively perceptive abilities of classroom teachers to determine if information of this type should be gathered to assist instructional efforts. |
MPACT Scores for Judith Bonnie HarrisA = 0 Advisors and Advisees Graphgenerating graph, please reload |
Students under Judith Bonnie Harris
ADVISEES:
- None
COMMITTEESHIPS:
- Viki Ash-Geisler - University of Texas, Austin (1996)
- Amanda Williams - University of Texas, Austin (1998)