Sketching – an Undervalued Tool in General Education

Abstract

Sketching is one of the key activities that characterise the process of visualising ideas in the creation of design products and artworks. Sketching skills are necessary to record observations. In addition, sketching can be used to capture new information. In the new State basic education standard of Latvia, sketching has a noticeable place in both design and technologies and art. The study aimed to investigate the role of sketching in the general education of students – future teachers of primary school education, future design and technologies teachers, and future designers. A survey (n = 126) was used to achieve the aim. The results show that sketching is to a greater extent and more diversely taught in visual arts than in home economics and technologies. Almost a fifth of the respondents (19%) did not learn sketching in visual arts, and almost half (48%) – in home economics and technologies. Most respondents consider that a sketch is a rough idea for a work, a draft of a work, and its main characteristic is quickness. 43% associate sketching with drawing techniques. Students use sketching most in free sketching situations and in generating ideas for visual artworks. Students sketch equally to record observations and stylize them as well as to visualize design product ideas. Most students emphasise that sketching needs to be practised, it is a way to visualise thoughts and ideas, and it stimulates creativity. Most students believe that sketching has an impact on the result of product design (both speed and quality), and they also stress that sketching ideas makes it easier to choose which idea to pursue.