The present research explores benefits of using young students’ drawings in combination with written responses for gathering information about science concepts. Younger students are still very limited in their verbal expression and less biologically literate than older students. The aim was to determine primary school students’ conceptions about owls, experiences with owls and their sources of information, and to then determine how beneficial it is to combine information gathered from drawings and written responses in comparison to previous research done with lower secondary school students. Altogether, 280 students attending fourth and fifth grades from schools in Slovenia participated in the research. Students knew well the specific features of owls. Drawings provided more clear information about body parts and proportions, while owls’ specific habitats, behaviours and diet were more thoroughly described in their written responses. Students without experiences with living owls represented owls less thoroughly. Comparison of frequencies of responses in main categories of conceptions about owls showed that using drawings and written responses is equally beneficial for younger and older students. Gathering primary school students’ conceptions about science concepts with both drawings and written responses enables better assessment of a student’s knowledge than using just drawings or written responses.

中文翻译：

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小学生对猫头鹰的概念、猫头鹰的经历及其信息来源

本研究探讨了使用年轻学生的绘画结合书面回答来收集有关科学概念的信息的好处。与年龄较大的学生相比，年龄较小的学生在语言表达方面仍然非常有限，生物学知识也较少。目的是确定小学生对猫头鹰的概念、猫头鹰的经历及其信息来源，然后确定与之前对初中学生进行的研究相比，将从图纸和书面答复中收集的信息结合起来有多大好处. 共有 280 名来自斯洛文尼亚学校的四年级和五年级学生参与了这项研究。学生对猫头鹰的具体特征了如指掌。图纸提供了关于身体部位和比例的更清晰的信息，而猫头鹰的特定栖息地、行为和饮食在他们的书面回复中得到了更详尽的描述。没有接触过活猫头鹰的学生对猫头鹰的表现不太全面。比较关于猫头鹰的主要概念类别的反应频率表明，使用绘画和书面反应对年轻和年长的学生同样有益。通过绘图和书面回答收集小学生关于科学概念的概念，比仅使用绘图或书面回答能够更好地评估学生的知识。比较关于猫头鹰的主要概念类别的反应频率表明，使用绘画和书面反应对年轻和年长的学生同样有益。通过绘图和书面回答收集小学生关于科学概念的概念，比仅使用绘图或书面回答能够更好地评估学生的知识。比较关于猫头鹰的主要概念类别的反应频率表明，使用绘画和书面反应对年轻和年长的学生同样有益。通过绘图和书面回答收集小学生关于科学概念的概念，比仅使用绘图或书面回答能够更好地评估学生的知识。