Drawing ability and its determinants: A conceptual model

There is a common agreement about the critical importance of drawing ability in design education. Discussions around the topic have mostly focused on two major arguments: 1) the effects of drawing ability on learning outcomes, as critical reflections on the relationship between students’ design performances and the real-world work; 2) the cognitive determinants that influence the ability to draw, as clarifications of complex mental processes and explanations for the statement “I can’t draw.”
Despite the extraordinary contribution that the cognitive perspective has given to the topic, drawing ability requires much more that simply understanding the mental processes for given graphic tasks. It demands an integrated approach through which the interaction of different domains - cognitive, psychomotor, psychologic, contextual - discloses other realities of drawing ability, those strictly connected to motor capabilities, motivational drives, emotional responses and socio-cultural influences.
The present model represents the conceptual foundation of the research ‘Exploring cognition, motivation and emotion in student’s drawing experience’, which aims to investigate the factors that inhibit the ability to draw for students in design related programmes at East Midlands universities. The model will be assessed through three batteries of visual and graphical tests concurrently with group interviews and observations, to evaluate the typologies of influence of cognitive labour, as well as the emotional and motivational states on the ability to draw.
The communication of the findings will engage students and educators in a constructive dialogue such to comprehend the relevance of each factor to the ability to draw, and to derive from those a set of pedagogical strategies as prevention of negative learning outcomes from the drawing experience. However, this first engagement phase does not exclude further developments, such as consultations with overseas universities for enhancing the external validity of the model and extending its applicability to other academic abilities.