Intergenerational collaborative drawing: A research method for researching with/about young children

This paper focuses on the methodological effectiveness of intergenerational collaborative drawing (ICD). A group of eight researchers trialled this particular approach to drawing, most of them for the first time. Each researcher drew with young children, peers and tertiary students, with drawings created over a period of six months. The eight researchers came together in a 'community of scholars' approach to this project because of two shared interests: (i) issues of social justice, access and equity; and (ii) arts-based education research methods. The researchers were curious how ICD might methodologically support their respective research processes. As knowledge and theory about young children becomes more complex, researchers need responsive methodological tools to ask new questions and conduct rigorous, ethical research. This partial account describes how drawing together might perform methodologically. The data reported here draws from the detailed field notes, drawings and reflections of the researchers. Conclusions arise from the analysis of these reflections, with the authors suggesting ways in which ICD might benefit research with young children.

Studio portrait of Gretel Heimann (on right) with her sister Anna Portraits Children

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Studio portrait of Josef Soudek as a young boy dressed in a sailor suit; Bodenbach (De��c��i��n, Czech Republic) Portraits Children

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Ruth Augusta Beatrice Goldschmidt; Berlin Portraits Children

Born 1923?

Passport portrait of Ruth Augusta Beatrice Goldschmidt Portraits Children

Born 1923?

Henry H. Goldschmidt Gould standing outdoors Portraits Children

Born July 15, 1914, died August 6, 1978

Henry H. Goldschmidt Gould (top row fourth from right) with unidentified school classmates Portraits Children

Born July 15, 1914, died August 6, 1978

Portrait of Gertrud (Trude) Guttmann Portraits Children

Born September 8, 1905, worked in a Jewish orphanage in Berlin and was deported to Auschwitz May 17, 1943, where she died.

Henry Marx shining shoes to earn money for his family; Washington Heights, New York Portraits Children

Henry Marx was born in Michelstadt/Hessen and emigrated to New York with his family in early 1937 when he was nine years old. He went to school but also delivered newspapers and shined shoes to help his family financially as his father only worked whatever odd jobs he could during the war years. Going from store to store shining shoes on weekends was Henry's main source of income. He had to wake up early in order to reserve the spot shown in this photograph, competing with a father and two sons who traveled from Brooklyn to Washington Heights to shine shoes.

Studio portrait of Friedel and Johanna Fuld; Worms Portraits Children

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Studio portrait of Erich Gustav Baum as a young boy Portraits Children

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Grete Dublon (left) with an unidentified friend Portraits Children

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Interior view of the synagogue where David Dublon was cantor or rabbi with some of the children in the congregation; Du��lmen, Germany Synagogues; Interior

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