Drawing Ability Research Articles

Drawing skills at the beginning of higher education: Teachers’ perspectives, expectations, and realities

For more than two decades, educational policies in Portugal have primarily focused on improving student outcomes, reducing school absenteeism, and preventing school abandonment. Another factor has been the overemphasis on literacy and numeracy, which has resulted in an unbalanced weighting of these school subjects on instructional time. As a result, instruction time for non-essential classes, such as music and visual arts, was reduced. What effect do these policies have on the drawing abilities and visual literacy of those who pursue visual arts studies in higher education? To date, there has been a plethora of studies on drawing in its didactic, neurological, and physiological components, with findings that strengthen and support the idea that drawing plays a central role in the development of conceptual thinking and abductive reasoning. These findings are significant when advocating for drawing as a learning tool in S.T.E.M., but also, for drawing to play a different role in education overall. To determine whether these policies impact the competencies, skills, and visual literacy of those who pursue visual arts studies, we surveyed higher education teachers regarding their perceptions of student drawing skills as they begin college degrees ranging from fine arts to design. Some survey findings point to weak areas, particularly in perspective drawing and preparatory drawings and sketches. The teachers suggested that the causes were mostly political. These findings should be investigated further, specifically through follow-up interviews and a survey of first-and second-year students enrolled in the courses taught at the educational institutions under analysis.

A Predictive Coding Account for Cognition in Human Children and Chimpanzees: A Case Study of Drawing

Humans and chimpanzees differ in their cognitive abilities, in particular, in social-cognitive processing; however, the underlying neural mechanisms are still unknown. Based on the theory of predictive coding, we hypothesize that crucial differences in cognitive processing might arise from aberrant reliance on predictions. We test this hypothesis using a recurrent neural network that integrates sensory information with predictions based on the rules of Bayesian inference. Altering a network parameter, we vary how strongly the network relies on its predictions during development. Our model qualitatively replicates findings from a behavioral study on the drawing ability of human children and chimpanzees. Moderate parameter values replicate the ability of human children to complete drawings by adding missing elements. With weak reliance on predictions, the model’s behavior is similar to chimpanzees’ behaviors: trained networks can follow existing lines but fail to complete drawings. Furthermore, with a strong reliance on predictions, networks learn more abstract representations of drawings and confuse different trained patterns. An analysis of the internal network representations reveals that an aberrant reliance on predictions affects the formation of attractors in the network. Thus, appropriate reliance on their own predictions in humans may be crucial for developing abstract representations and acquiring cognitive skills.

Quantifying developmental and individual differences in spontaneous drawing completion among children.

This study investigated how children's drawings can provide insights into their cognitive development. It can be challenging to quantify the diversity of children's drawings across their developmental stages as well as between individuals. This study observed children's representational drawing ability by conducting a completion task where children could freely draw on partially drawn objects, and quantitatively analyzed differences in children's drawing tendencies across age and between individuals. First, we conducted preregistered analyses, based on crowd-sourced adult ratings, to investigate the differences of drawing style with the age and autistic traits of the children, where the latter was inspired by reports of atypical drawing among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Additionally, the drawings were quantified using feature representations extracted with a deep convolutional neural network (CNN), which allowed an analysis of the drawings at different perceptual levels (i.e., local or global). Findings revealed a decrease in scribbling and an increase in completion behavior with increasing age. However, no correlation between drawing behavior and autistic traits was found. The network analysis demonstrated that older children adapted to the presented stimuli in a more adult-like manner than younger children. Furthermore, ways to quantify individual differences in how children adapt to the presented stimuli are explored. Based on the predictive coding theory as a unified theory of how perception and behavior might emerge from integrating sensations and predictions, we suggest that our analyses may open up new possibilities for investigating children's cognitive development.

The relationship between shape perception accuracy and drawing ability

Accurate shape perception is critical for object perception, identification, manipulation, and recreation. Humans are capable of making judgements of both objective (physical) and projective (retinal) shape. Objective judgements benefit from a global approach by incorporating context to overcome the effects of viewing angle on an object’s shape, whereas projective judgements benefit from a local approach to filter out contextual information. Realistic drawing skill requires projective judgements of 3D targets to accurately depict 3D shape on a 2D surface, thus benefiting from a local approach. The current study used a shape perception task that comprehensively tests the effects of context on shape perception, in conjunction with a drawing task and several possible measures of local processing bias, to show that the perceptual basis of drawing skill in neurotypical adults is not due to a local processing bias. Perceptual flexibility, the ability to process local or global information as needed, is discussed as a potential mechanism driving both accurate shape judgements and realistic drawing.

Fiber drawing ability and loss optimization of niobium rich borophosphate optical glass fibers

Here we explore the manufacturing of niobium-rich borophosphate glasses into fibers with optical quality. Glass preforms of composition [(100-x) (0.95 NaPO3 + 0.05 Na2B4O7) - x Nb2O5] with x = 37, 38, 39, 40 were synthetized and thermally drawn. Viscosity measurements performed in the softening point range show that the optical fiber drawing temperature gradually increases with the amount of niobium oxide. X-ray diffraction and Raman structural analysis performed post drawing demonstrate that the BPN glass with 39% Nb2O5 represents the upper limit for fiber drawing under oxygen. Subsequently, preform quenching protocol was optimized to mitigate the density fluctuations within the glass matrix related to convection flows and compare with the conventional cast-in-mold method. Optical transmission and shadowscopy imaging highlight the improvement in the optical quality of the glasses produced following this new protocol. This observation is confirmed by cut back loss measurements which show a decreasing in the attenuation from 6.04 dB/m to 3.19 dB/m between the two methods. One believes the manufacturing of niobium rich borophosphate fibers with improved optical quality highlights their potential to be used as near-infrared highly nonlinear waveguide devices.

Scaffolding preservice engineering graphics and design teachers’ interpretation ability of assembly drawing

This study focuses on first-year Pre-service Engineering Graphics and Design teachers (PSEGDTs), as studies on the spatial-visual abilities of PSEGDTs is absent in mainstream spatial-visual literature. This paper reports on a teaching resource designed to support PSEDGTs' reading and interpreting AD. Data is presented in response to the following research questions, Does the comprehension of Assembly Drawing by PSEGDTs, alter after exposure to the teaching resource, if so how and, what contributed to the change? Twenty-one first-year PSEDGTs who participated in the authors' more extensive study were deliberately chosen to partake in this research. Individual interviews and focus group interviews were employed to develop data. Content analysis was embraced to elicit meaning from the data. The results highlight a significant improvement in most first-year PSEGDTs ability to read and interpret assembly drawings after the teaching resource. The research proposes an innovative strategy for teaching and learning of assembly drawing.

Establishing assessment criteria and breakthrough points for drawing ability

The "ability of realistic drawing" especially realistic drawing ability has been an important measure in assessing the spiritual world of humankind; However, several points in individual teaching strategy remain yet to be clarified in the established practice of group teaching how to draw: 1. How does one assess the artist's skill level? 2. Which abilities should be included in the scale used to assess drawing ability? 3. Of these abilities, which ones can be learned in a short time and which ones require a long time? 4. How does drawing ability evolve to reflect quantitative and qualitative changes as the learning time accumulates? This study attempts to answer the four questions posed above in an analytical and quantifiable way by obtaining empirical data from three drawing experts and four student groups with the aim to establish a set of assessment criteria for drawing ability. With a comprehensive and effective set of assessment criteria established for drawing ability, that the contributions from this study could enable teachers to assist learners not only save time on guesswork, but also provide tailored and specific breakthrough teaching strategies.

Anisotropic porous designed polymer coatings for high-performance passive all-day radiative cooling

SummaryPorous polymer radiative cooling coatings (PPCs) have attracted attention due to their ability of drawing and radiating heat from a hot object into the outer space, without any energy consumption. However, high performance of PPCs has yet to be achieved and the large-scale production of radiative cooling technology is still facing high cost and complex manufacturing constraints. Here, we propose a simple, inexpensive, scalable approach to fabricate anisotropic (P(VdF-HFP))ap PPCs (TPCs) by dissolution and diffusion between solvent and non-solvent-induced phase separation. By adjusting the porosity, pore size, and geometry, a sub-ambient temperature drop of ∼6.3°C in daytime and 10.1°C in night-time was achieved under a solar reflectance of 0.92 and an atmospheric window emittance of 0.96. A thermoelectric generator with an output voltage of almost zero reached 7 V/m2 after coating with TPCs. This could provide a convenient, economical, and environment-friendly way for PPCs materials toward efficient cooling and power generations.

Children's Digital Art Ability Training System Based on AI-Assisted Learning: A Case Study of Drawing Color Perception.

This study proposed a children’s digital art ability training system with artificial intelligence-assisted learning (AI-assisted learning), which was designed to achieve the goal of improving children’s drawing ability. AI technology was introduced for outline recognition, hue color matching, and color ratio calculation to machine train students’ cognition of chromatics, and smart glasses were used to view actual augmented reality paintings to enhance the effectiveness of improving elementary school students’ imagination and painting performance through the diversified stimulation of colors. This study adopted the quasi-experimental research method and designs the pre-test and post-test for different groups. The research subjects are the Grade 4 students of an elementary school in Taitung City, Taiwan. The test tools included an imagination test and an evaluation of painting performance ability. The test results of a total of 30 students before and after the experiment included the experimental group that received the children’s digital art ability training system with AI-assisted learning and 30 students in the control group that had not received the teaching were analyzed by covariance. These results were supplemented by the description and interpretation of student feedback, teachers’ reflection notes, and other qualitative data to understand the performance of the students in the experimental group in terms of imagination and painting performance.

Teaching a University Student with Learning Disabilities who Qualifies for Regular English as a Foreign Language Course Placement: A Case Study

This study investigated the effects of applying multiple intelligence theory in the tutelage of students with learning disabilities in the field of English as a foreign language (EFL). EFL teachers are urged to incorporate topics that would be of interest to students with learning disabilities, thus encouraging these students to think more deeply and participate more actively in their EFL learning. In this study, the instructor used drawing as a medium to teach English and achieved favorable outcomes. An interview revealed that the participant developed new EFL learning strategies, a stronger EFL learning motivation, improved English-language ability, and even planned to attend future EFL courses. Classroom observation indicated that the participant exhibited greater learning autonomy, enhanced English and drawing ability, decreased anxiety, and an improved student–teacher relationship. Despite its limitations, this study presented a new approach along with the results of that approach to help enhance the EFL learning outcomes of university students with learning disabilities. This novel approach is thus highly recommended for EFL educators of students with learning disabilities to incorporate into their teaching practices.

Physicochemical Properties and Fiber-Drawing Ability of Tellurite Glasses in the TeO2-ZnO-Y2O3 Ternary System

Glasses in the TeO2-ZnO-Y2O3 (TZY) ternary system are examined in the present work. The vitrification domain of the chosen oxide matrix is determined and differential scanning calorimetry as well as X-ray diffraction measurements are carried out. The material characterizations reveal that Y2O3 incorporation cannot exceed 5 mol.% without causing detrimental crystallization within the glass. Optical transmission and refractive index investigations are conducted on compositions yielding fully amorphous samples. Next, the fiber drawing ability of selected yttrium-containing zinc-tellurite glasses is assessed and fiber-attenuation measurements in the mid-infrared are presented. Finally, a multimode step-index fiber is fabricated by combining a TZY cladding glass with a La2O3-based tellurite core glass. It is believed that yttrium-containing glasses could prove useful in association with other high glass transition temperature (>300 °C) TeO2-based materials for the design of robust optical fibers with precisely engineered refractive index profiles.

Скрытая символика в «Трёх хоралах для большого органа» Сезара Франка

The article is devoted to one of the enigmatic compositions by French romantic composer Cesar Franck Three Chorales for Large Organ (1890). The traditional chorale arrangements are built on original church chants, which spread its connotation on all the parameters of the composition’s musical texture – tonality, musical-lexical units, rhythm, etc. The uniqueness of Franck’s chorales lies in the absence in them of direct quotations from liturgical practice, which provides a greater amount of complexity in the ways of interpreting this cycle. The main goal of the article is to find the semantic mechanisms based on an integrated approach, which includes the semiotic, hermeneutic, iconographic and iconological methods of analysis. Given Franck’s ability of drawing and his many years of working as a church organist of the Catholic church of St. Clotilde in Paris (Basilique Sainte-Clotilde), the author of the article notes the synesthesia quality of his musical thinking manifested in this work. The music of the chorales relies not on a textual-musical basis, but on spatial-visual iconography, which can be regarded as a manifestation of the synthesis of the arts, characteristic of the Romanticist composers of the 19th century. The author of the article puts forward the following assumption – that the cycle reflects the main doctrinal images of Christ, in terms of their spatial arrangement within the premises of the Catholic Church, according to the canon of the iconic scenario. The semantic structure of the work is based on the three-dimensional semantics of the premises of the church, symbolizing human beings’ path towards God.

The Application of Computer Graphics CAD Technology in Civil Engineering

The CAD technology of computer drawing software has powerful drawing ability. When it is applied to civil engineering, it will meet the drawing ability of different complexity in the design process, to achieve a variety of graphics format effective conversion. CAD technology platform compatibility is strong, can be in a variety of software systems for drawing, cross-media, cross-platform to achieve effective application. Therefore, in the process of improving the efficiency of civil engineering design in an all-round way, we should take the advantage of computer drawing CAD technology as the foundation and continuously improve the design method by innovating the design idea, really promote the innovation of civil engineering design.

A smart ink pen for spiral drawing analysis in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Handwriting skills could be highly impaired in patients affected by Parkinson's disease (PD), and for this reason its analysis had always been considered relevant. In handwriting assessment, Archimedes spiral drawing is one of the most proposed tasks, due to its peculiar shape and ease of execution. In the last decades, digitizing tablets had been widely employed for the evaluation of the spiral performance, providing a cheap and non-invasive way to gather quantitative information, to be combined with the classical clinical examination. Despite this advantage, such approach cannot easily be adopted in an unsupervised scenario and lacks the natural feel of the traditional pen-and-paper approach. This work aims at overcoming these limitations by employing a smart ink pen, designed to write on paper and instrumented with inertial and force sensors, to automatically collect data related to spiral drawing execution of PD patients (n=30) and age-matched healthy controls (n=30). From the raw data, several time and frequency domains features were extracted and compared between the groups. The statistical analysis revealed some significant differences, showing less smooth acceleration and force profiles for PD patients. However, given the heterogeneous symptoms presented by the PD cohort, a detailed analysis of exemplifying PD patients was conducted, showing the ability of Archimedes spiral drawing to capture and quantify PD characteristic features.Clinical Relevance- Among the first clinical manifestations of the pathology, handwriting impairment appears in PD patients. It is often underestimated and not investigated properly. This easy-to-use tool could be very useful as a large-scale screening, but also for treatment efficacy evaluation and for the identification of PD subgroups.

Artists have superior local and global processing abilities but show a preference for initially drawing globally.

The attentional demands of drawing require both local processing of an object’s details and global processing of its overall structure. In this study, we examined the extent to which artists have superior local and global processing skills, how these skills relate to artists’ ability to draw realistically and to autistic-related traits, and whether artists initially take a local or global approach to drawing. Forty first-year college art students and 41 nonart students completed two tasks assessing local processing and two tasks assessing global processing. Participants completed two drawing tasks that assessed their ability to draw realistically, two copying tasks that assessed whether they showed a preference for initially copying the local or global aspects of an object, and the Autism-Spectrum Quotient that assessed autistic-related traits. We found that art students outperformed nonart students on both the local and global processing tasks and that drawing ability was related to performance on these tasks. We also found that art students were more likely than nonart students to initially copy the global features in their drawings. Finally, we found that art students did not exhibit more autistic-related traits than nonart students and that the number of autistic-related traits was unrelated to performance on the local and global processing, drawing, or copying tasks. These results suggest that art students have an attentional flexibility that allows them to process information at a local and global level but that they have a preference for initially drawing globally.

Drawing ability correlates with visual memory performance

Drawing ability correlates with visual memory performance

Spatial Visualization of Human Anatomy through Art Using Technical Drawing Exercises.

Spatial visualization, the ability to mentally rotate three-dimensional (3D) images, plays a significant role in anatomy education. This study examines the impact of technical drawing exercises on the improvement of spatial visualization and anatomy education in a Neuroscience course. First-year medical students (n=84) were randomly allocated into a control group (n=41) or art-training group (n=43). Variables including self-reported artistic drawing ability, previous technical drawing experience, or previous anatomy laboratory exposure were gathered. Participants who self-identified as artistic individuals were equally distributed between the two groups. Students in the art-training group attended four 1-hour sessions to solve technical drawing worksheets. All participants completed two Mental Rotations Tests (MRT), which were used to assess spatial visualization. Data were also collected from two neuroscience written examinations and an anatomical "tag test" practical examination. Participants in the art-training and control groups improved on the MRT. The mean of written examination two was significantly higher (P=0.007) in the art-training group (12.95) than the control group (11.48), and higher (P=0.027) in those without technical drawing experience (12.44) than those with (11.00). The mean of the anatomical practical was significantly higher (P=0.010) in those without artistic ability (46.24) than those with (42.00). These results suggest that completing technical drawing worksheets may aid in solving anatomy-based written examination questions on complex brain regions, but further research is needed to determine its implication on anatomy practical scores. These results propose a simple method of improving spatial visualization in anatomy education.

Analysis of Motor and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood by Gender and Learning Styles Through Drawing and Coloring Activity

Motor and cognitive development of children is very important to improve for their success in the future. This study aims to find out the development of motor and cognitive skills in early childhood by gender and learning styles through drawing and coloring activity. The subjects in this study were children aged 5-6 years consisting of 27 boys and 25 girls who attend Early Childhood Education (PAUD) in Purwoasri, Kediri Regency. This study used an experimental design. The learning styles questionnaire developed by the researcher refers to the learning style theory indicators developed by DePorter & Hernacki, (2007 ) which are used to identify and classify children learning styles into visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. The children's fine motor and cognitive skills were measured by assessing their ability to draw and color a picture in a worksheet. The results of the analysis using the independent T-Test sample showed that a significance value of 0,047 for drawing and 0,036 for coloring (p<0.05) in terms of gender, it means there was a difference in motor and cognitive skills used in drawing and coloring activity. The results of the One-way ANOVA analysis showed that there was no significant difference in drawing ability between the three groups of learning styles. However, a significant difference in coloring ability was found between the visual and kinesthetic groups with significance value of 0,038 (p<0,05).

Automated scoring for a Tablet-based Rey Figure copy task differentiates constructional, organisational, and motor abilities

Accuracy in copying a figure is one of the most sensitive measures of visuo-constructional ability. However, drawing tasks also involve other cognitive and motor abilities, which may influence the final graphic produced. Nevertheless, these aspects are not taken into account in conventional scoring methodologies. In this study, we have implemented a novel Tablet-based assessment, acquiring data and information for the entire execution of the Rey Complex Figure copy task (T-RCF). This system extracts 12 indices capturing various dimensions of drawing abilities. We have also analysed the structure of relationships between these indices and provided insights into the constructs that they capture. 102 healthy adults completed the T-RCF. A subgroup of 35 participants also completed a paper-and-pencil drawing battery from which constructional, procedural, and motor measures were obtained. Principal component analysis of the T-RCF indices was performed, identifying spatial, procedural and kinematic components as distinct dimensions of drawing execution. Accordingly, a composite score for each dimension was determined. Correlational analyses provided indications of their validity by showing that spatial, procedural, and kinematic scores were associated with constructional, organisational and motor measures of drawing, respectively. Importantly, final copy accuracy was found to be associated with all of these aspects of drawing. In conclusion, copying complex figures entails an interplay of multiple functions. T-RCF provides a unique opportunity to analyse the entire drawing process and to extract scores for three critical dimensions of drawing execution.

Effect of Exogenous Melatonin on the Quality of Soybean and Natto Products under Drought Stress

Melatonin can directly or indirectly eliminate reactive oxygen species, regulate hormone levels, and improve drought-stressed soybean crop resistance, yield, and quality. The nutrient contents of soybeans grown under normal conditions (WW), drought stress (D), and drought stress with exogenous melatonin (D + M) ( p &lt; 0.05 ) were compared. The differences in the quality of natto from the three groups of soybeans were also analyzed. The results showed that compared with soybeans under normal conditions, those grown under drought stress had reduced yield and carbohydrate, protein, essential amino acid, soybean isoflavone, and other nutrient contents. Besides, natto presented low nattokinase levels (674 U/mL), natto drawing ability was weak, the surface was dull, the taste was poor, and the sensory score was 12 points. Exogenous melatonin increased the carbohydrate content (starch, sucrose, glucose, and fructose) and improved the yield and quality of soybeans under drought. The natto produced by soybeans under drought stress with exogenous melatonin had high nattokinase content (756 U/mL) and long wire drawing. The surface of the product was rich in mucus and had a natto aroma. Its comprehensive sensory score was 20 points. Natto from soybeans under drought stress that were treated with exogenous melatonin showed significantly higher yield, nutrient content, and quality, than those under drought stress without treatment. This study provides theoretical data that can facilitate the development of new methods to improve the quality of soybeans grown under drought conditions.