Reasoning through representation: The role of drawing in model construction in primary physics

This study investigates the epistemic role of drawing in primary science classrooms, conceptualizing it as a semantic tool that mediates the transition from concrete experience to abstract conceptualization. Building on socio-constructivist and multimodal perspectives, drawing is framed not as a mere representational outcome but as a generative semiotic practice through which children externalize, negotiate, and reorganize their emerging scientific models. Our classroom-based research in primary physics education shows that drawing operates as a proto-modeling device: it enables students to move from what has been described as “physical babbling” toward progressively structured explanatory systems. In this process, the pictorial register functions analogously to its documented use in early algebra, where visual representations support the shift from arithmetic reasoning to relational and structural thinking. In both domains, drawing sustains reasoning through representation—where conceptual insight emerges in the act of inscription—and reasoning from representation—where the produced artifact becomes an object of collective reflection, revision, and validation. We observed that the pictorial medium supports children in managing the dual epistemic demands of correspondence (alignment with observed phenomena) and coherence (internal consistency within the emerging representational system). Intellectual realism frequently characterizes these productions, as students depict not only what they see but what they consider conceptually relevant. In this sense, drawing functions as a conceptual change strategy: it renders implicit models visible, making intuitive ideas and resources available for discussion and restructuring. At the same time, our analysis highlights potential didactic pitfalls, including procedural reductionism (where drawing collapses into task reproduction) and semiotic hybridization without shared conventions, which can hinder model stabilization. The findings therefore, underscore the need for intentional multimodal orchestration across pictorial, verbal, and symbolic representations. When pedagogically scaffolded, drawing becomes a powerful ontological disambiguator and a central mediator in the construction of robust scientific knowledge in primary education.