Drawing Conclusions: Do Children Draw from Observation?

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There is a common belief that young children do not draw from observation; however, it may be that they simply are satisfied not to, and prefer, for reasons of expedience(and training) to draw from memory. Certainly they are not often taught observation drawing in art classes in American schools. The history behind this belief and practice is interesting. One source is the work of Georg Kerschensteiner, a German educator, who in order to evaluate the art program in Munich at the turn of the century, collected almost 100,000 drawings from school children.