The promise and practice of learner-generated drawing: Literature review and synthesis

This article explores learner-generated drawing, a strategy in which learners construct representative illustrations in support of learning goals. Both applied and empirical literature is reviewed with the purpose of stimulating research on this strategy. Clear from this review is the gap that exists between prescriptive readings on learner-generated drawing and research-based understandings.To make sense of inconsistent empirical evidence, the research review is organized around a series of hypotheses grounded in current understandings of cognitive and strategic processing.A theoretical framework for understanding the drawing strategy is proposed by extending R. E. Mayer's (1993) theoretical processes of selection, organization, and integration.The framework is intended to guide and organize future research efforts and, to that end, earlier proposed hypotheses are incorporated into the explanatory constructs of this theoretical perspective. The article concludes with a discussion of how strategy instruction might play a role in the effectiveness of the drawing strategy.