Drawing as a cognitive tool
In order to understand children’s inherent biological capacity, using which they adapt to new situations, it is important for us to study the spontaneous drawings they do without any sort of interference.
The initial premise of this exploration is that the only activity a child does is to make sense of the real world. That is what life naturally equips them for. The two-dimensional surface of various screens which children experience, is something which we as humans are not biologically equipped for. Instead, as we are equipped for engaging with three-dimensionality, we have to biologically adapt to this new situation. The written word further increases this cognitive distancing when compared to engaging with realistic images.
Literacy brings in a cognitively strange and unfamiliar situation for children.
The experience of literacy creates a virtual cognitive realm within us, from the base of which, we seemingly operate subconsciously. We have a notion of Delhi being on top and Kanyakumari at the bottom. This is also reinforced by the way we say — up-north & down-south — which results from our engagement with the two-dimensional surface. This seems like an absurd idea, however, for a non-literate person who is not constrained by the limitation of the written word. How we create a conducive environment for the children to develop their cognitive foundation, based on the real world and using the written word simply as a tool, is the challenge we are now faced with. But since children are biologically equipped for adapting to any new situation, all we need to do is respect this possibility and prevent our interference.
Drawing opens up a possibility worth exploring. It connects the real world with the two-dimensional world of print. This is what we found from the study of thousands of drawings made by children, autonomously. These studies, of drawings done by children aged between 3 and 11, clearly show their stages of biological development. This is evidenced in observing how children acquire their ability to walk, talk and draw. By drawing autonomously, children gain an understanding of the real world in terms of two-dimensional space. The literates are already alienated from the real world due to their disuse of senses. Hence, unlike us, children are likely to use their senses and root themselves in the real world, only if we can sensitively explore the potential of drawing.
The first and foremost thing to be kept in mind here is that drawing is NOT a natural act. In none of the so-called illiterate cultures would one see children drawing. Drawing, in these cultures, is done by adults as a ritualistic act. Even the word art is not to be found in their diction.
What children spontaneously do, is to playfully explore the world around them by recreating experiences. This is the cognitive activity established by life to help them make sense of the real world, autonomously.
Challengingly enough, this will only be possible if the conditions are conducive.
Not just the act of ‘teaching’ them how to draw, but even the mere utterance of the word art would inhibit their natural learning process, causing them to be misled.
DRAWING AS COGNITION
An online course to explore this
Explore how children use drawing as an adaptation to connect the three-dimensional world and the two-dimensional space of the text. Understanding this is the key to reimagining education as the creation of knowledge rather than analysis of readymade information. The most veiled shift that literacy/printing/books have ushered in has been our shifting into a two-dimensional realm of cognition.
If children, however, are completely left free to make sense of the world, they would use their naturally inbuilt system of learning, i.e. by playfully exploring their contexts, recreation of experience through play, etc. Further, in order to make sense of the world in terms of two-dimension, they would draw.
Register at www.ekfoundation.in
