An Investigation of Hand-Drawn Representations of Rivers by Fifth-Grade Students in Greek Elementary Schools

Table 1

Representations of rivers: comparative presentation.

Model	Representations	pre-A*	post-A	pre-B*	post-B
Straight line that starts from the mountains and flows into the sea.		40%	20%	26.67%
Straight line that starts from the mountains and forms embranchments in the sea.		20%	20%	20%
Straight line with embranchments in sea and mountain, respectively.		6.67%	6.67%
Arched or sinuous line that starts from the mountains and flows into the sea.			13.33%	33.33%	3.33%
Arched or sinuous line that starts from the mountains and forms embranchments in the sea.		13.33%			16.67%
Arched or sinuous line with embranchments in sea and mountain, respectively.			20%		73.34%
Horizontal, straight line without representation of mountains and mouth.		3.33%	3.33%	3.33%	3.33%
Other.		16.67%	16.67%	16.67%	3.33%

The models presented in the table (column 1) and the schematic representations (column 2) were generated from pupils’ drawings and are a categorisation thereof. The category “other” includes representations that cannot be placed in any of the above categories.
The column pre-A presents representations of rivers by pupils in the control group before being taught in accordance with the school textbook (pre-perceptions).
The column post-A presents representations of rivers by pupils in the control group after being taught in accordance with the school textbook (post-perceptions).
The column pre-B presents representations of rivers by pupils in the experimental group before being taught in accordance with the researchers developed materials (pre-perceptions).
The column pre-B presents representations of rivers by pupils in the experimental group after being taught in accordance with the researchers developed materials (post-perceptions).