International Journal of
Information and Education Technology

Abstract

Drawing is a sincere and explicative language that children use to reflect their feelings, thoughts, perceptions and observations. Children give clues about their inner world by revealing their perceptions of external world in their drawings. The purpose of this study is to do a semiological analysis of third grade students' visual perceptions of war. The study was carried out with phenomenological pattern. So, the target is to make some inferences from students' drawings. 22 third grade students in Elazig in Turkey participated in the study. After providing them with crayons and papers, these students were asked to draw pictures depicting war. After that, these drawings were analyzed with phenomenological method by the researchers. At the end of the analyses, students made a lot of original, creative and effective drawings depicting war. In these drawings, deep scars of wars taking place in Middle East, where Turkey is geographically and historically close, can be seen. Moreover, there are also some reflections of Turkey's struggle against separatist terrorist organizations in those drawings. The results of the study reveal that children's drawings indicate that there is an atmosphere of distrust and suspicion in the country. In terms of pedagogy, this inference can be made: Children's perceptions and imaginations are shaped largely by topical issues. Television, the internet and printed media are the dominant factors for this shaping.