| The purpose of this study was to examine the role drawing played in the production of narratives by preschool children. Narrative develops slowly during the early childhood years. Research indicates that narrative structure is influenced most by the amount of support adults provide children as it develops (Hudson, 1990). While parents provide significant input for children as narrative develops, many children spend a large portion of their day away from parents in the care of others. Of interest is how these others support children's narrative development.;Recent advances in early childhood curriculum have centered on models that maintain engaging children in purposeful activities, using a variety of representational forms, serves the child's developing sense of self and the process of the development of narrative. These models have been interpreted in practice to include drawing as part of story-telling for the preschool child.;At about age four, children begin to tell narratives in the form of stories. Previous research has found that preschool children have an inability to take on another's perspective and to understand multiple characters' intentions. Moreover, Pellegrini and Galda (1982) found that drawing after hearing an adult read a story did not enhance story recall for children younger than seven years old.;The present study included the participation of 180 preschool children randomly assigned to one of three different conditions:; Condition Control: No Draw 1. Draw First 2. Tell First Tell Me A Story Draw Me A Story Tell Me A Story Tell Me A Story Draw Me A Story Re-tell Your Story Re-tell Your Story Re-tell Your Story;The conditions were designed to test whether drawing supported children's development of narrative in the form of stories. The results indicated drawing did not enhance story-telling. Analysis of scores on the dependent variables, story structure, number of words, and number of statements, indicated children told less complex stories when they had drawn a story prior to telling their stories. Gender differences were insignificant. Further, consistent with Case and Okamoto's (1996) findings, the present study demonstrated children were unable to maintain a connected story line while drawing a story. |
