Talking drawings: improving intermediate students' comprehension of expository science text.

With the advent of the standards movement, most states have produced statewide tests that evaluate children's understanding of expository science text. Expository texts are designed to explain, describe, or present a logical argument. Usually, the purpose of expository texts is to present new information. Based on their review of numerous studies, McInnes, Humphries, Hogg-Johnson, and Tannock (2003) concluded that children do not have sufficient exposure to such informational text in the early grades (Caswell & Duke, 1998; Duke, 2003). Yet children learn to interact more productively with expository texts as they gain more experience with them (Duke & Kays, 1998). Therefore, educators are being urged to read not only storybooks but also informational books aloud to children, to discuss these books with children, and to guide children in understanding the different features and expectations for readers that are associated with expository texts (Jalongo, 2006, in press). Reading science expository texts is as important in the intermediate grades as it is in the primary grades. The pressure of state-mandated tests throughout the United States has compelled elementary school teachers to incorporate more expository text activities into the curriculum.

This article describes a research-based strategy referred to as "Talking Drawings" (McConnell, 1993), which can be easily incorporated into science curricula in the intermediate grades. Talking Drawings enables children to combine their prior knowledge about a topic with new information derived from expository text. The students translate recently acquired understandings into illustrations and then further elaborate their understandings through discussion with partners. In this article, the Talking Drawings strategy is demonstrated through intermediate students' study of rain forests. In this scenario, a definition of Talking Drawings connects the symbol system of drawing with writing, develops oral language skills, and fosters listening comprehension. Additional Talking Drawings examples are included, which reflect students' misconceptions and understandings regarding topics of space and oceanography. Finally, a summary outlines methods of implementing Talking Drawings in intermediate science classes.

The study of rain forests has become a common component in the elementary science curriculum. Despite exposure to this topic in earlier grades, children's actual knowledge of rain forests may be superficial, at best, and littered with misconceptions, at worst.

Mr. Girard, a 5th-grade teacher, discovered this phenomenon when he began assessing students' prior knowledge of rain forests, asking them: "What do you know about rain forests? Does anybody remember what animals live in the rain forest? Where are rain forests located on the earth?" After a pause, he persisted. "Surely, someone in the class remembers what the four layers of the rain forest are." Except for a few students, the members of the class just stared at him blankly. Mr. Girard distributed paper and crayons and said, "Even though you are not sharing what you might already know about a rain forest, what if I ask you to imagine a rain forest in your mind? Think about what you have already learned. Picture what it looks like. Think about what you have previously learned about rain forests. From this mental image, I would like you to draw a picture that shows what you think you know about rain forests."

More at ease than during the questioning strategy, the students began to draw enthusiastically. The atmosphere in the classroom became more animated and lively as students represented their mental images on the paper. As they drew, they began to share their ideas about what a rain forest looked like. Mr. Girard announced, "Class, let's stop our drawings and see if this book can provide any additional information for us." The students seemed motivated to learn more about the rain forests and listened attentively as Mr. Girard read from Nature's Green Umbrella: Tropical Rain Forests (Gibbons, 1994). Throughout the reading, the teacher paused to highlight salient features of the text. After the read-aloud and the discussion, the students were asked to revisit their first drawings and produce a new, more detailed drawing. They would label the drawing with the terminology they had acquired from listening to the book.

In reviewing the students' pre-learning drawings and their post-learning drawings, Mr. Girard was able to assess his students' prior knowledge of the rain forest, as well as their comprehension gleaned from the read-aloud and classroom discussion. Whereas the initial drawings revealed a rather "sketchy" concept of a rain forest, the post-learning drawings were considerably more detailed and complex. The most surprising aspect of the drawing activity, in general, was how motivated the students were to record artistically what they knew about the topic. The students' responses to questions meant to assess their prior knowledge of the rain forest fell short of Mr. Girard's expectations; using the activities of drawing and talking simultaneously, however, enhanced students' listening comprehension. This strategy, called "Talking Drawings," enables teachers to assess students' prior knowledge and post-listening comprehension of a science text. Talking Drawings provides an opportunity for students to use artwork to depict their understanding of science topics, incorporating new knowledge with prior knowledge.

Using Artwork in Science Class

Using artwork to demonstrate content understanding is a strategy employed in many primary classrooms. As Mantione and Smead (2003) state, "Often[,] teachers use drama, drawing, block building, or clay sculpting as avenues for students to share their thinking about reading" (p. 7). Intermediate-age students also can benefit from using artwork. Children's natural inclination to express themselves using drawing is developmentally appropriate for elementary learners of all ages. Therefore, Talking Drawings is one comprehension strategy that can be used with primary or intermediate-age students (McConnell, 1993).

Mr. Girard successfully illustrated the use of Talking Drawings as a motivating technique for his 5th-graders. Often, students can draw what they cannot explain. With Talking Drawings, Mr. Girard was able to assess his students' pre-instruction and post-instruction understanding of the topic of rain forests. By analyzing the details of the students' drawings, he was able to determine what new information the students had gleaned from Gail Gibbons's book on rain forests (1994) (see Figure 1).

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

After interviewing the 5th-grade students about their post-learning drawings (as depicted in Figure 1), Mr. Girard noticed that Brad corrected his misconception that rain forests are located near farms. Jason, another 5th-grade student, illustrated the levels of the rain forest and drew the animals that inhabit each layer. Jason commented that he knew rain forests had layers, but he had forgotten their names and purposes. Laura clearly drew a forest inundated with rain. "I had forgotten about the high levels of rainfall in a rain forest," she concluded.

The Talking Drawings Strategy

Assimilating the learning of new science concepts with students' prior knowledge of that same topic can be a difficult task, particularly if students have preconceived notions and misconceptions about a topic. Likewise, students' ability to learn and comprehend a new topic is dependent upon schemata. Schemata reflect the prior knowledge, experiences, and conceptual understandings that the readers bring to the learning situations (Vacca et al., 2006). Knowing what students already know about a topic can assist elementary science teachers in planning effective instruction. Talking Drawings is one strategy that helps teachers achieve the goals of assessing prior knowledge and of clarifying factual information about science topics. Analyzing the drawings allows the design and implementation of instruction to better match students' needs. The strategy also allows the students to assess their previous understanding of a topic and visually record their newly acquired information in the post-learning illustration.

Examples of the Talking Drawings Strategy

Mrs. Phillipine, a 4th-grade classroom teacher, employed the Talking Drawings strategy during a unit on stars and constellations. First, she introduced the topic of stars by asking the students questions to activate their prior knowledge. She then distributed drawing materials and asked students to draw what they thought they knew about stars and constellations. Upon finishing their drawings, the students were encouraged to talk about them with partners. Seeing the students' enthusiasm, Mrs. Phillipine read Seymour Simon's nonfiction book, Stars (1986), to the class. After the read-aloud and discussion of the expository information, students were asked to create other drawings or modify their originals. The two illustrations were compared in partner discussions. Figure 3 depicts the students' samples of pre-learning and post-learning drawings on the topic of stars.

[FIGURE 3 OMITTED]

After analyzing the pairs of drawings and listening to the children's conversations, Mrs. Phillipine identified numerous preconceived and inaccurate notions held by the children, including the idea that stars are identical and have five points. The post-learning drawings revealed students' new understanding that stars are: gaseous bodies, multiple-colored, clustered, and larger than they appear to the naked eye.

Several of the 4th-grade students were fascinated with the existence of black holes. Scott, for example, drew star clusters and black holes in his post-learning drawing. By comparison, his pre-learning drawing included five-pointed stars. When interviewed, Scott stated, "Stars are not pointed or circles. They are different."

Additionally, students realized other information about stars. As can be seen in Hannah's post-learning drawing (see Figure 3), she commented, "Wow! I didn't know the sun was a star." During the interview, Hannah stated, "I didn't know that stars were made of gases." Haley and Melissa illustrated multiple-colored stars in their post-learning drawings. Haley said, "Stars can come in many different colors and they move 10 miles per second." When Noreen was interviewed, she said, "I didn't know that stars came in different colors."

In a 6th-grade classroom, Ms. Mallory had been conducting a unit on sea life and its habitats. Whales and dolphins had been explored and studied in the 4th-grade curriculum, and other related topics were peppered throughout read-alouds in earlier grade levels. As the topic of jellyfish held a fresh appeal for Ms. Mallory's 6th-graders, she wondered what her students already knew about jellyfish.

Ms. Mallory asked the students if they had ever seen a jellyfish. "Does anyone know what jellyfish eat? Where do jellyfish live? Do jellyfish have any predators?" As expected, a few children made comments about dead jellyfish found on the beach, but no one seemed able to answer any questions about living jellyfish. She asked the students to draw their mental images of jellyfish on the paper she had provided. The classroom was soon abuzz with student-centered talk about jellyfish. Ms. Mallory then read from Taylor and Wu's (1998) Jellyfish. The students commented throughout the read-aloud, marveling at facts as they learned them. After the read-aloud and discussion, the students all created new drawings to depict their new learning (see Figure 4, on page 86).

[FIGURE 4 OMITTED]

In analyzing the students' post-learning drawings, Ms. Mallory interviewed several of the students. Many had labeled and described various parts of the jellyfish's body, added details about the habitat, and identified food sources and predatory techniques. When asked to talk about her post-learning drawing, Jennifer said, "I had no idea that a jellyfish was hollow under the cap. Great place to capture its prey." Another student was fascinated with the fact that jellyfish are related to coral. Nicole explained, "I felt it was important to show the coral in my drawing. This way, everyone will be as shocked as I was to find out that jellyfish and coral are part of the same family." Likewise, Maria commented, "Who would have guessed that jellyfish have so many eyes? The tentacles, I knew about, but I never knew that they use their eyes to catch prey in a 360-degree sweep." Jennica also was fascinated by the number of eyes and tentacles jellyfish possess. The labeling Jennica used in her post-learning drawing clearly illustrates her understanding of science terminology about jellyfish.

Making Difficult Science Concepts "Real" With Talking Drawings

In conclusion, using expository science texts and the Talking Drawings strategy enables students to conceptualize abstract ideas. As these illustrated samples attest, the use of Talking Drawings in intermediate science classes supports the study of abstract topics in a more concrete manner. Bringing such abstract concepts as earth, space, and oceans to the students' comprehension level requires creative teacher planning and instruction. Obviously, opportunities for field trips to rain forests, outer space, or the ocean floor are impractical. Therefore, connecting Talking Drawings with children's expository science literature provides a basis for developing background knowledge and creates student interest and motivation for more in-depth investigations into these types of topics. Since these topics do not lend themselves to simulations, demonstrations, or active hands-on participation, due to their abstract nature, scaffolding students' learning using the Talking Drawings strategy is an effective alternative.

References

Caswell, L. J., & Duke, N. K. (1998). Non-narrative as a catalyst for literacy development. Language Arts, 75(2), 108-117.

Duke, N., & Kays, J. (1998). "Can I say 'Once upon a time'?": Kindergarten children developing knowledge of information book language. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 13(2), 295-318.

Duke, N. K. (2003). Reading and writing informational text in the primary grades. New York: Scholastic.

Jalongo, M. R. (2006, in press). Early childhood language arts (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Mantione, R. D., & Smead, S. (2003). Weaving through words: Using the arts to teach reading comprehension strategies. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

McConnell, S. (1993). Talking drawings: A strategy for assisting learners. Journal of Reading, (36), 260-269.

McInnes, A., Humphries, T., Hogg-Johnson, S., & Tannock, R. (2003). Listening comprehension and working memory are impaired in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder irrespective of language impairment. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 31(4), 427-443.

Vacca, J. L., Vacca, R. T., Gove, M. K., Burkey, L. C., Lenhart, L. A., & McKeon, C. A. (2006). Reading and learning to read. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Children's Books

Gibbons, G. (1994). Nature's green umbrella: Tropical rain forests. New York: Morrow Junior Books.

Simon, S. (1986). Stars. New York: William Morrow.

Taylor, L., & Wu, N. (1998). Jellyfish. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications.

Figure 2

Steps of the Talking Drawings Strategy

1    Select a science topic from the curriculum. Introduce
     the science topic by asking questions of the
     students to assess their prior knowledge.

2    Ask students to create mental images of the topic.
     Distribute drawing materials and have the
     students represent what they think they know about the
     topic in a pictorial fashion. This can be done
     in pencil or crayon.

3    Invite students to share and discuss their artwork with
     a partner. When using the Talking Drawings strategy, allow
     each student to describe his/her image to a partner in
     complete detail. Partners might say, "Tell me about your drawing."

4    Select a science expository text that relates to the topic in a
     descriptive way and begin directed instruction on the topic.
     Photographs or illustrations of the topic could be a component
     of this instruction.

5    Encourage students to revisit the initial drawing. Based on the
     teacher's reading of the science book and the classroom discussion
     of the topic, encourage students to add details to modify or
     reconfigure the original drawing to accommodate the new learning.

6    Facilitate a student-centered discussion that compares and
     contrasts pre- and post-learning drawings, so as to identify
     newly acquired facts.

Susan E. Fello is Assistant Professor, Kelli R. Paquette is Assistant Professor, and Mary Renck Jalongo is Professor, Department of Professional Studies in Education, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, Pennsylvania.