Drawing Instruction Research Articles

Language Policy Dynamics in Early Childhood Education through Basil Bernstein’s Lens

This paper examined the implementation of local language policy in privately owned early childhood centers through Bernstein’s lens theory. It focuses on the benefits and implications of using local languages as media of instruction in early grades drawing on Basil Bernstein’s framing and control lens. This study is qualitative in nature and it used descriptive research design to examine the implementation of local language policy in privately owned early childhood centers through Bernstein’s lens theory. Simple random sampling technique was used to select ten (10) privately owned centers and ten (10) teachers that formed the sample. Ten (10) center managers were purposely selected bringing the total number of participants to twenty (20). The study used participant and non-participant observation and interviews to collect data and a total of 10 lessons were observed with a focus on the language of the instruction used. The results of the study show that there are major divides that linger among the classes in society which are visible in geographical locations of schools and have a great influence on the language of instruction. The results further show that local languages are not taught in private schools due to limitations in language command and skill set required to adequately teach. The study recommends that the pre service training programs should equip early childhood education teachers with adequate skills in local language teaching. Further, there is need for wider consultation with all stakeholders if issues of medium of instruction are to be a consensus at pre-grade.

Online Bargue Drawing Course Feasibility: Insights from Indonesian Art and Design Students

This paper presents findings and insights from a pilot study on online drawing instruction focusing on the Bargue drawing method conducted with a sample of students from the Art and Design Department at Universitas Negeri Malang (UM), Indonesia. The study aimed to explore the feasibility of an online course consisting of 16 hours of instruction delivered in two-hour sessions held every Tuesday and Thursday. The pilot study involved a total of 20 students. The research methodology employed in this study involved observation of the student’s behavior during the course and analysis of their drawing results. These methodologies facilitated a thorough evaluation of the student’s progress and performance. The participants faced various challenges throughout the online course, including internet connectivity issues, communication effectiveness, and fluctuating student motivation. Eventually, only eight students completed the course successfully. However, these students demonstrated significant progress and achieved impressive results in their drawings. This paper discusses the limitations and challenges encountered during the pilot study, emphasizing the need for an offline workshop model due to the constraints of online learning. The insight gained from this study contributes to understanding the necessary changes and considerations that should be addressed if one intends to pursue online pedagogy for art and design education. Keywords: art and design education, online learning, drawing instruction, student motivation, Bargue drawing method

The Role of Physiognomics in Teaching Students to Draw Portraits

In the article, it is true that a teacher of fine arts should have high technical knowledge in drawing portraits in the field of pencil drawing, and also have sufficient knowledge in the field of psychology thought about. This study investigates the role of physiognomics in the instruction of portrait drawing to students. Physiognomics, as the study of facial features and character, has long been believed to be a tool for understanding and capturing human expressions. However, its practical application in teaching portrait drawing has not been fully explored. The research employs a qualitative method, conducting in-depth interviews with art faculty members and experienced art students who are involved in teaching and learning portrait drawing techniques. The findings highlight that the application of physiognomic principles in instruction can assist students in developing a deeper understanding of facial structure and character expression. These findings suggest that integrating physiognomic concepts into the art curriculum can enhance students' portrait drawing skills and enrich their overall artistic experience. This research provides new insights into the importance of incorporating psychological and philosophical aspects into art education, offering a foundation for the development of a more holistic teaching approach in portrait drawing instruction at the higher education level.

Meditations on teaching drawing and movement as ‘mind in motion’

In this paper, I take the theme ‘Drawing and Movement’ as an opportunity to reflect on relationships between mind and body in learning how to draw as fostered by diverse teaching methods. Towards that end, I initially propose a cognitive perspective based on Barbara book, Mind in Motion, then apply it to two movement-intensive drawing skills – mark or pattern-making and figurative sketching, each with an imperative for practice. In the process, the concept of ‘mind in motion’ helps shed new light on five instructional paradigms I defined in my previous research. To conclude, I review conditions in contemporary culture and visual arts education that make the restoration of drawing instruction as outlined here especially relevant in the digital age. Connecting these sections, I will highlight eight drawing demonstrations to illustrate how ‘mind in motion’ helps explain how drawing not only represents thought in different domains (art, science, philosophy, etc.) but in fact facilitates it.

THE INFLUENCE OF MODERN EDUCATIONAL GAMES ON PRESCHOOL CHILDREN’S GAME COMPETENCE FORMATION

The article reveals the peculiarities of preschool children’s game competence formation. Educational games have been identified as one of the effective ways to increase the level of game competence formation. Educational games meet preschoolers’ natural needs and combine elements of learning, applied, reproductive and creative activities, which makes it possible to develop the child’s emotional sphere, cognitive interests, intellectual and spiritual needs, and creativity.Educational games are defined as a set of games of various types by the authors. They have the following common characteristics: they contain a task that needs to be solved, necessarily accompanied by written, oral, pictorial, and drawing instructions; compliance by teachers or parents with the principles of accessibility, systematicity, and consistency; taking into account the child's individual and maximum capabilities; providing a free, creative atmosphere; lack of hints in solving tasks, to form responsibility and independence; providing educational space and time for creative problem solving; encouragement to complete a difficult task and enjoy the result, which has a real material display.A pedagogical experiment was conducted to determine the impact of educational games on the level of preschool children's game competence development. Thirty children of older preschool age participated in the experiment, divided into experimental and control groups. At the ascertainment stage of the experimental study, to determine the level of preschool children’s game competence, indicators and criteria for preschool children’s game competence were determined. When determining the criteria and indicators, we focused on the Basic component of preschool education, namely the educational direction “Child’s Game”. We defined motivational, activity, and cognitive criteria and their indicators. Based on selected criteria and indicators, we substantiated the levels of older preschool children’s game competence formation: high, medium, and low. At the formative stage, a system of educational games was implemented in the experimental group. The control experiment data showed that the use of educational games in working with preschool children contributes to the positive dynamics of the growth of the level of the formation of game competence, and has a positive effect on the preschool children’s comprehensive development.

Can drawing instruction help students with low visuospatial ability in learning anatomy?

Visuospatial skills are considered important attributes when learning anatomy and there is evidence suggesting that this ability can be improved with training techniques including drawing. The Mental Rotations Test (MRT) has been routinely used to assess visuospatial ability. This study aimed to introduce students to drawing as a learning strategy for anatomy. Undergraduate speech science anatomy students took part in a drawing tutorial (n=92), completed an MRT test, pre- and post-tutorial tests, and surveys regarding their use and attitudes toward drawing as a study tool. The impact on their examination performance was then assessed. Regardless of MRT score or attitude to drawing, students who participated in the drawing tutorial demonstrated immediate improvement in post-tutorial test scores. Students in the drawing group performed better in most anatomy components of the examination, but the result did not reach statistical significance. There was only a positive correlation between MRT score and one type of anatomy question (non-image-based) and speech physics questions (r=0.315, p=0.002). The unexpected finding may relate to the MRT which assesses spatial rather than object visualization skills. Students who liked drawing also performed significantly better in word-based and speech physics questions. It is likely that the style of identification question did not require the mental manipulation ability assessed in the MRT. This study demonstrated that students with lower MRT scores are not outperformed in all aspects of anatomy assessment. The study highlights the importance of a more nuanced understanding of visuospatial skills required in anatomy.

The Value of Drawing Instructions in the Visual Arts and Across Curricula: Historical and philosophical arguments for drawing in the digital age, Seymour Simmons (2021)

Review of: The Value of Drawing Instructions in the Visual Arts and Across Curricula: Historical and philosophical arguments for drawing in the digital age, Seymour Simmons (2021) New York and London: Routledge, 396 pp., ISBN 978-1-13847-997-5, h/bk, £96 ISBN 978-1-35106-418-7, e-book, £30

The Value of Drawing Instruction in the Visual Arts and Across Curricula: Historical and Philosophical Arguments for Drawing in the Digital Age

With the “death of drawing” proclaimed to us from all sides—but, at the same time, enmeshed within an intensely visual culture, and therefore continuing to be receptive to the all-encompassing “cognitive, creative, and communicative” possibilities inherent in putting pencil to paper—we are delighted to discover this historical beacon on page 114 of the volume under review: Passed into law by its legislature five years after the end of the Civil War, and as a result of having foreseen a need to rapidly modernize its own industrial design capabilities, the Massachusetts Drawing Act of 1870 established instruction in that subject as compulsory within the state’s school systems.Indeed, an actual and quite relevant piece of history—and this but one small section of the remarkable tapestry that Seymour Simmons presents to us in The Value of Drawing in the Visual Arts and across Curricula. The author, moreover—faithfully following each of its threads—does not hesitate to dive into the question at hand: What has changed in the 150 years since the Drawing Act of 1870?!Today, of course, legislatures mandate instruction in computer technology as opposed to hand drawing, and they are correct in doing so: It is difficult for a visual communicator to get hired these days if they are not adept in one or more of a multitude of the well-known engineering/graphic/video/animation programs. And yes, Simmons acknowledges that a program like Adobe Illustrator is able, in some sense, to exercise some of the same mind/body interactions of sketching by hand.But, as ably documented in The Value of Drawing in the Digital Age, there is also a growing clamor to reinstitute hand drawing as a formally recognized subject; and if, furthermore, we are to include not only our own kindergarteners but also immigrant families who have perhaps available to them only a tiny blackboard, we will do well to pay careful attention to Simmons and his book: Drawing, no less than writing, is universal and fundamental, and together at the root of all of our unique accomplishments as a species.Cognition: As per Barbara Wittman, “Drawing makes visible something that no other technology can make visible,” and this is still very much true in the fields of medical, botanical and zoological illustration. Creativity: As per Simmons himself, “Children early on gain from drawing a sense of themselves as agents … and not just at the mercy of their environment.” Communication: As per Claudia Betti and Teel Sale, “The healing effect of expressing one’s feelings through visual means is employed by people of all ages and from all parts of the globe.”One will note, furthermore, that two of the three above citations are by authors other than Simmons; i.e. this is one of those refreshing books in which the author is not so much beating their own drum but rather asking us to listen, via their own extensive research, to drumbeats from across historical and philosophical space—all of which proclaim that drawing is an innate and vital human activity. (Simmons’s “References” section—12 dense pages!—actually amounts to a rather thorough bibliography on the subject of drawing.)And here let the reviewer name, in addition to the author’s triadic formula, a fourth “C”—for “compassion”: his both explicitly and implicitly present throughout Simmons’s book and perhaps his ultimate message. Indeed—given that aesthetics might contain within itself some of the seeds of compassionate behavior and given further that he everywhere makes this connection—educators of today might be well advised to put The Value of Drawing Instruction on their watch lists.

A new student-led digital drawing course: an initiative to bridge patient health literacy through medical illustrations

Many physicians believe illustrations can be helpful in patient encounters, but fail to create such drawings due to a perceived lack of artistic ability. Digital drawing platforms, however, have the ability to compensate for the lack of artistic skills. Our study sought to evaluate how digital drawing instruction would impact the likelihood of medical students to utilise illustrations in future patient encounters. ‘Draw Your Way Through Medicine’ was an elective course, offered at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in 2020. The course instructed students how to create digital drawings using Procreate and how to depict specific surgical procedures. Students completed pre-and post-course surveys, which were analysed using paired t-tests. Thirty-six students enrolled in the course, of which 27 completed the pre-course survey and 21 completed both pre-and post-course surveys. Students’ comfort level with drawing improved somewhat (3.0 to 3.5, p = .08), while their comfort level with creating medical illustrations improved significantly (2.2 to 3.7, p < .01). Qualitative responses echoed the enthusiasm for implementing digital drawing as a clinical communication tool. A digital drawing course showed considerable value in improving medical students’ confidence in generating medical illustrations, making this form of visual communication a potentially valuable tool in patient care.

Effects of drawing instructions and strategic knowledge on mathematical modeling performance: Mediated by the use of the drawing strategy

AbstractMaking drawings can help students avoid and overcome difficulties they encounter when solving real‐world (or modeling) problems. However, many students do not make drawings spontaneously. In the present study, 132 students in Grades 9 and 10 were randomly assigned to the experimental conditions “with situational or mathematical drawing instructions” or to the control condition “without drawing instructions.” Multilevel path analyses showed that mathematical drawing instructions had a positive total effect on performance, and the effect was transmitted via the use of drawings. Also, strategic knowledge about drawing had a positive total effect on performance via the use of drawings. Further, strategic knowledge about drawing moderated the effect of mathematical drawing instructions on students' use of drawings. An in‐depth analysis of an exemplary modeling problem provided us with additional hypotheses about how drawing instructions and the use of drawings affect modeling performance on the problem level.

KINETIC SCHOOL DRAWING AS A MENTAL HEALTH METHOD SUPPORTING COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

In a person’s life of great importance is the presence of another human, a colleague. A social relation, a community is not “just” a necessity and precondition, it is a kind of essence of human being. The presence of companions plays a significant role in the schoolchildren’s life. Thus, the circumstances of forming groups, the roles played in social forms, experience, memories of friendly relationships are of utmost significance. A traditional sociometric analysis and building a relationship network enables us to clearly see the relationship between children and how they treat each other. A kinetic school drawing allows us to see how a child feels himself in the school environment; it gives valuable supplementary information for an instructor on the pedagogue and school perception, as well as on the attitude to authority and the requirementsю Specialized literature testifies to the fact that kinetic school drawing can be perfectly applied in practice. The presented interpretation areas make it clear that kinetic school drawing can be used as a supplement of sociometric survey in case if the whole class is drawing, because the children tag their friends on paper by names. Kinetic school drawing instruction requires the pedagogue’s figure to be depicted, therefore one can gain information on how the children regard the instructor or the teacher, what their views are on education and educational methods, and last but not least how they treat other children. It reveals not only the relations among peers, but also presents a perfect feedback on the pedagogue’s everyday work. The routine traditional teaching can in numerous cases make the teaching-learning process unsophisticated. Kinetic school drawing, in terms of creating a pleasant atmosphere at school for the mental health development, offers new perspectives on school mental health not only for school psychologists but also for educators, especially class teachers. It is also the responsibility of the educator to help and support the development of a given community, taking into account the specifics of the age group. The mental health method, which supports community development based on kinetic school drawings, is an innovative initiation, its application in pedagogical work is unprecedented. The aim of this article is to present the possibilities of mental hygiene inherent in kinetic school drawings.

Trsper: a web-based application for Archimedes spiral analysis.

We built a web-based application of the Archimedes spiral exam that implements clinically validated spiral metrics and tested drawing instructions to define a clinical workflow. We designed an HTML5 and Javascript implementation of the spiral exam to run on mobile touchscreen devices. We then recruited 10 volunteers each for 2 experiments designed to validate the programmed spiral metrics and assess how instructions or drawing implement affect the results. In task one, volunteers drew 5 spirals each while following 6 different instruction sets (n=30 spirals each, n=300 spirals total) that varied by support of the drawing hand and tracing condition (either tracing a spiral template, drawing in-between it, or freehand). In task two, volunteers drew 5 spirals each while following 2 instruction sets and drawing using a stylus or their dominant index finger (n=20 spirals each, n=200 spirals total). Principal components analysis of calculated metrics revealed that the experiments grouped by instruction set and by subject. Mean Euclidean distance between experiments represented as 11-dimensional vectors revealed that consistency varied among instruction tasks and that drawing with a stylus produced more consistent results than did using the dominant index finger. Using experimental data and simulated abnormal spirals, we designed a decision support system that accurately identifies potentially abnormal spirals. We built and validated a robust digital implementation of the Archimedes spiral exam and recommend a sensitive and specific workflow on the basis of data gathered from healthy volunteers.

Assessing early primary students’ growth in a science unit using multiple modes of representation: investigating the promise of explicit drawing instruction

ABSTRACT In order to investigate the impact of science drawing instruction in a first-grade unit on carnivorous plants (CPs), we analysed student-produced drawings after explicit instruction in drawing scientifically (n=38), as well as compared their drawings with students in a previous implementation (year 1) who did not experience explicit drawing instruction (n=31). The year 2 students experienced a science unit using multiple modes of representation (MMR) that began with a class session focused on the scientific purposes of observational drawings, including the use of labels as a science convention of communication in visual representations. Students who participated in the unit with explicit drawing instruction increased the number of structures and labels that they included when comparing their pre- and post-unit drawings, and included a statistically significant higher number of elements and labels than their year 1 peers. The results indicate that the explicit drawing instruction served as a semiotic tool for students as they constructed meaning about the structure and function of CPs, as well as supported early primary students in engaging in the epistemic practice of drawing for science communication. Implications of the study include the importance of incorporating explicit drawing instruction into science units involving student-generated drawing.

Level of Implementation of Industrial Technology Syllabi at the Pangasinan State University

This descriptive analysis measured the extent of adoption of industrial technology syllabi, especially in Drawing Courses at Pangasinan State University - Lingayen Campus (PSU-LC), College of Technology during the second semester of the 2019-2020 as a foundation for the creation of enhanced syllabi in Drawing Courses. It attempted to evaluate, in addition to the Level of Implementation of the Syllabus in Drawing Along Objective, the Level of Implementation of the Syllabus in Drawing Along Content; the Degree of Development of Drawing Competencies, the Level of Effectiveness of the Strategies Used in Teaching Drawing, the Level of Seriousness of the Problems Encountered in Drawing Teaching, and finally, the Level of Applicability of the Remedial Measures to Address the Problems Encountered. This research enumerated 50 students enrolled in Drawing 111 - Fundamentals of Technical Drawing. The key data collection instrument for this analysis was a questionnaire checklist, which was used by the researcher. The data was qualified using frequency counts, rankings, and weighted mean averages. The Microstat computer software was used for all computations. The following conclusions were reached based on the study's findings: The goals and material of the Drawing syllabus are met satisfactorily at PSU-LC, students in drawing at PSU-LC influenced the fundamental expertise in drawing. The demonstration process and practical experiments were time-tested methods for teaching drawing. Drawing students at PSU-LC, faced both serious problems in the teaching of their Drawing topic, as well as serious problems in the teaching of their Drawing subject, as well as serious problems in the teaching of their Drawing subject, as well as serious problems in the teaching of their Finally, strict adherence to attendance policies and the availability of appropriate administrative assistance will aid in the improvement of drawing instruction at the college level. The following proposals were made in light of the results reached; an updated drawing syllabus should be implemented at Pangasinan State University's College of Technology, Lingayen Campus, to raise the standard of implementation. Drawing teachers should have appropriate practice sessions and mastery learning activities for students to master the least learned skills or competencies in Drawing, School-based instruction on the successful use of teaching methods and strategies in Drawing should be given to teachers to equip them on the effective use of these methods and strategies. School administrators should provide appropriate administrative support to students' classes, services, and initiatives relevant to their Drawing topic to improve their success. Finally, the college rules on student attendance and absenteeism should be specifically adhered to in order to minimize absenteeism and ensure daily attendance of students. A comparable research in a different environment should be done to include other factors not used in this study.

Level of Implementation of Industrial Technology Syllabi at the Pangasinan State University

Abstract. This descriptive analysis measured the extent of adoption of industrial technology syllabi, especially in Drawing Courses at Pangasinan State University - Lingayen Campus (PSU-LC), College of Technology during the second semester of the 2019-2020 as a foundation for the creation of enhanced syllabi in Drawing Courses. It attempted to evaluate, in addition to the Level of Implementation of the Syllabus in Drawing Along Objective, the Level of Implementation of the Syllabus in Drawing Along Content; the Degree of Development of Drawing Competencies, the Level of Effectiveness of the Strategies Used in Teaching Drawing, the Level of Seriousness of the Problems Encountered in Drawing Teaching, and finally, the Level of Applicability of the Remedial Measures to Address the Problems Encountered. This research enumerated 50 students enrolled in Drawing 111 - Fundamentals of Technical Drawing. The key data collection instrument for this analysis was a questionnaire checklist, which was used by the researcher. The data was qualified using frequency counts, rankings, and weighted mean averages. The Microstat computer software was used for all computations. The following conclusions were reached based on the study's findings: The goals and material of the Drawing syllabus are met satisfactorily at PSU-LC, students in drawing at PSU-LC influenced the fundamental expertise in drawing. The demonstration process and practical experiments were time-tested methods for teaching drawing. Drawing students at PSU-LC, faced both serious problems in the teaching of their Drawing topic, as well as serious problems in the teaching of their Drawing subject, as well as serious problems in the teaching of their Drawing subject, as well as serious problems in the teaching of their Finally, strict adherence to attendance policies and the availability of appropriate administrative assistance will aid in the improvement of drawing instruction at the college level. The following proposals were made in light of the results reached; an updated drawing syllabus should be implemented at Pangasinan State University's College of Technology, Lingayen Campus, to raise the standard of implementation. Drawing teachers should have appropriate practice sessions and mastery learning activities for students to master the least learned skills or competencies in Drawing, School-based instruction on the successful use of teaching methods and strategies in Drawing should be given to teachers to equip them on the effective use of these methods and strategies. School administrators should provide appropriate administrative support to students' classes, services, and initiatives relevant to their Drawing topic to improve their success. Finally, the college rules on student attendance and absenteeism should be specifically adhered to in order to minimize absenteeism and ensure daily attendance of students. A comparable research in a different environment should be done to include other factors not used in this study.

Giving A Face to Chemotherapy-Induced Alopecia: A Feasibility Study on Drawings by Patients

Objective:Individuals with cancer experience the impact of chemotherapy on hair loss in different ways. The aim of this pilot study was to explore patients' experiences of alopecia through patients' drawings.Methods:Fifteen female patients diagnosed with cancer and treated with chemotherapy were recruited at the oncological day-care unit of a teaching hospital in the Netherlands. Participants completed a semi-structured interview about alopecia. They drew their head and hair before and during chemotherapy and completed the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (B-IPQ).Results:The drawings revealed predominantly physical effects, rather than emotions. Emotions were evident in the text that patients wrote under the drawings and in the B-IPQ open question about the perceived consequences of alopecia. The overall impact of alopecia that emerged from the drawings and the B-IPQ corresponded to the information retrieved from the interviews, namely disappointment, insecurity, sadness, and confrontation.Conclusions:Drawings expose cognitive and emotional responses to alopecia that may be relatively unexplored when using traditional assessment methods such as questionnaires or interviews. In future research, the drawing instructions need to be more specifically focused on feelings in order to better capture emotional reactions to hair loss.

A Decline in Drawing Ability?

AbstractThis research surveys changing attitudes to drawing pedagogy, in the context of digitisation, moves toward student‐centred learning in art &amp; design higher education, and anecdotal reports of declining competence. Based on student, teacher and examiner’s experiences, it has been possible to gain insights into how drawing instruction has changed over the past generation. This article examines the attitudes, values and concerns of students and educators regarding drawing instruction. The study reveals that, in the UK, drawing skills are considered to be gradually declining, while traditional notions of skill are called into question. Drawing as a means of visual recording, representation and communication remains valued, although no longer essential as it once was; drawing to augment thought process is increasingly recognised as an integral skill which enables innovation. The latter is rarely ‘taught’ but relies on core competencies that many lecturers fear are being eroded. Increasing value is placed on drawing ‘as process’, as provision is moving towards individualised instruction requiring students to work independently. While new technologies are a factor, this article re‐frames the issue as an imbalance between creative outcomes and creative process, with a disparity between school and university levels. This article calls for a renewed emphasis on ‘drawing as process’ as preparation for university, and for further consideration of the core competencies underpinning the use of drawing as a tool of thought, and how these might be standardised.

Drawing in the Digital Age: Observations and Implications for Education

This paper looks at recent examples of how drawing is advancing into the digital age: in London: the annual symposium on Thinking Through Drawing; in Paris: an exhibition at the Grand Palais, Artistes et Robots; a conference at the Institut d’études avancées on Space-Time Geometries and Movement in the Brain and in the Arts; and, at the Drawing Lab, Cinéma d’Été. These events are contrasted to a recent decline in drawing instruction in pre-professional programs of art, architecture, and design as well as in pre-K12 art education due largely to the digital revolution. In response, I argue for the ongoing importance of learning to draw both in visual art and in general education at all levels in the digital age.

When Drawing Proliferates: Toward an Onto-Epistemological Pedagogy of Children’s Drawing

Abstract Children’s drawing is an important part of early childhood learning experiences. While young children seem to have little need for drawing instruction, classrooms where drawing features as a central component to curriculum provide material conditions that can sustain its practice. In this paper, I employ a new material heuristic to explore how drawing and the drawings children produce are implicated in the production of pedagogical matter. To do so, I invite readers to visit with a Reggio-inspired preschool classroom where, for the past 3 years, I have participated together with children and teachers in a research relationship focusing on young children’s learning and early childhood pedagogy.

Aesthetic modernisation and international comparisons: learning about drawing instruction at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900

ABSTRACTThis article is concerned with an early phase in the history of educational comparisons in which international exhibitions played a major role as spaces for comparison. It looks at the educational exhibits at the Exposition Universelle in Paris 1900, and more specifically its exhibitions on drawing instruction. By following a central Swedish actor, Hjalmar Berg, and his ambition to modernise drawing instruction in Sweden based on his impressions at the exhibition, the article argues that the exhibition was a medium with the potential to promote aesthetic modernisation. Previous research has highlighted the world’s fairs as important arenas for the international comparison of education. This article is intended to contribute to this field by also exploring what these exhibitions meant on a national level.