A comparison of directed and non-directed easel paintings of sixteen nursery school children

Abstract

This investigation is a study of the effect of adult influence of the directed and non-directed paintings of preschool children, the relationship of the mental age and the chronological age to the acceptance of suggestions, and the relationship of the mental age and the chronological age to the ability to represent form, Factors considered were the length of enrollment and age of the subjects.

The subjects were sixteen preschool children, eight of whom were enrolled in the School of Home Economics Nursery School of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Virginia, and eight enrolled in the Radford College Nursery School, Radford, Virginia.

Mental age was determined by the Stanford Binet Intelligence Test Form IM. Each subject was given a directed and a non-directed experience using a toy fur kitten and a directed and a non-directed experience using a dog story. Comments of the subjects were recorded in both sessions. The results of the collected data showed that as the chronological age and mental age increases, the ability to represent form becomes greater. Spontaneous verbal expression was greater in the non-directed experiences than in the directed experiences. The paintings were judged to determine which were directed and non-directed. Scoring by the judges shows that verbal interference is discernible in preschool children’s paintings.