Children’s Drawings as Evidence of Emerging Spatial Understanding in Chilean Kindergartens

Abstract

This study analyses children’s drawings and verbal expressions as evidence of emerging spatial understanding in early childhood. Children aged 5–6 years from five Chilean kindergartens participated in multimodal activities, in which they depicted the flight of a mosquito through storytelling, movement imitation, and drawing. A case study examines the drawings (n = 137) and the accompanying educator-recorded verbal explanations using content analysis. The results showed an initial understanding of horizontal and vertical directions, indicating the development of early spatial notions. This research highlights how dynamic process is represented through static drawings and language, providing innovative perspectives of multimodal activities in early spatial learning.

Keywords

mathematics education preschool education spatial notions drawings multimodal representations spatial language

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