How Sketching Supports Learning in Science

It’s not about teaching them how to draw, it’s about teaching them how to see. Science, stripped of the complicated vocabulary and laws, is the process of observing reality as accurately as we can and explaining what we have observed as clearly as we can.

One way to improve our ability to notice things, like how plants grow over time, is by sketching—the key to noticing. All that’s needed is some paper, a pencil, and some patience.

The science supporting sketching

Our eyes and brain operate in a different way when we’re sketching versus when we’re just “looking” at something. When we’re looking at things, our eyes rapidly dart around capturing the outline, looking for the most important features.

Our brain doesn’t fully process these images so much as it sees something and fits a previous image into our brain of what it expects to see. In other words, we rarely see the thing so much as a symbolic representation of it. So we will see 80 percent of the details of the image in under one second, but for the brain to notice the other 20 percent of the details, we might need to look at something for 10–15 minutes or more.

This is where sketching comes in. We can’t ask students to stare at something for 10 minutes, but we can have them sketch something and consciously articulate what they are noticing. Sketching the different growth stages of a plant over time and making a flip-book of the pages can be a time-lapse representation created by the students. One of the joys of making a flip-book from a series of sketches is seeing the growth of the plant but also seeing the growth of the student.

To sketch the plant growth, any kind of rapidly growing plant will work—celery stalks, potatoes, a red onion cut in half, or garlic cloves. There are about six stages of garlic development that can be observed over an eight-to-nine-month period, making it ideal for growing in a classroom.

Here’s How I Bring Sketching Into My Classes

Here are a few simple rules for sketching accurately:

1. Hold the pencil (no pens) lightly—high up on the pencil is best so you lightly sketch and can easily erase.
2. Lightly sketch grid lines in the middle of the page.
3. Capture the basic geometric shapes that make up the figure.
4. Decide where shapes are in relationship to each other.
5. Spend most of the time looking at the object and not the sketch.

Ultimately the improvement to sketching comes the more time students can spend looking at the object. It’s ideal to spend 60 percent or more of the time looking at the object and less and less time looking at the sketch. I recommend that the sketching take about 10–15 minutes tops in the beginning as students learn how to pay close attention to something that’s not initially captivating but hopefully will be when they see the progress of the plant’s growth.

Students might initially get frustrated that their sketch isn’t “good.” Keep reminding them that so long as they have captured the image as accurately as they can, they’ve succeeded. When sketching something daily or weekly, the sketches will inevitably improve if the student puts in a modicum of intentional effort.

Students should sketch quietly. Their natural inclination will be to talk to their friends as they sketch, but the goal is to devote as much of their attention as possible to sketching as accurately as possible. I tell my students that their job is to capture the uniqueness of their particular plant. Just as each of us is a unique human, every plant is unique.

Have students write down what they observe on a separate page or paper, such as a log book or a science journal to capture written observations over the time period. Students should learn the appropriate vocabulary and use it in their written observations. Words like root, stem, and bulb should be part of their written observations to succinctly capture what they’re noticing. It’s a lot easier and clearer to write, “The scape is twisting” than “The part of the garlic plant is getting knotted up.”

Have students sketch daily or weekly. They might find this initially frustrating, but when they compare their current sketch with previous sketches, they will realize that there were changes that they wouldn’t have consciously noticed.

Subtle changes happen right away, and students might not notice at first; so to help them focus on different parts of the plant to see the changes, consider asking them questions like the following:

• Has there been any change to the roots?
• The skin of the garlic—has it changed at all in water?
• What color is the garlic? Is it white everywhere? Has that color changed?

Ideally students will sketch the plant from the same angle every session so that they can see the changes from a consistent standpoint and at the same time of day to get similar light. But these optimal conditions will not preclude students from getting a tremendous amount of value from the act of consistently sketching and writing what they observe.

Sketching the same thing daily might seem boring at first, but students will be incredibly pleased with their creation if they have 30–60 sketches showing the growth of the plant. They can proudly share this work with their friends and family, and they should be proud—doing consistent work that isn’t immediately gratifying can be painstaking, but the payoff makes it worthwhile.

By sketching the stages of growth, students are learning patience, deep observation, and practical skills around growing food. Science lectures can easily be developed around the growth stages, as watching the plant grow allows you to discuss topics in embryology, mitosis, plant cell physiology, and ecology.

The flip-book is a fun activity, but ultimately the goal is to use sketching as a tool to force great and consistent attention on a single phenomenon. The sketching and written observations will create a wonderful memento that students will remember for the rest of their lives.