Unless a student is in an art class, drawing during a lecture is usually frowned upon. But certain members of the campus community say mindless scribbling may actually aid the learning process, not hinder it.
Art students aren’t the only ones who benefit from drawing during long-winded lessons.
Mechanical engineering senior Alec Rozas often doodles in her classes, which she said can be lengthy and full of concepts she doesn’t need to know. She considers doodling to be a way to detach from the class just enough to hone in on the major content.
“I have an obsession with blank spaces and black and white images while doodling,” Rozas said. “I think that obsession calms me, and I can fill in the space mentally with what I’m learning from the class.”
Her notebooks are full of doodles of intricate mandalas and blossoming flowers. She said her sketches represent a balance between work and play.
“It’s absolutely mindless, and you never know what you’re going to do until you do it,” Rozas said.
In a 2009 study conducted by the University of Plymouth psychology professor Jackie Andrade, 40 participants were split into two groups and asked to listen to a fake voice mail. All participants wrote down the names mentioned in the message, but only 20 were prompted to shade in circles and squares on another piece of paper at the same time.
After the papers were picked up, those asked to multitask recalled 29 percent more of the information heard on the voice mail.
Andrade developed multiple theories to explain the results, including a theory that says when people doodle, they are working hard enough to prevent day-dreaming and are still able to tune in to their environment.
“Typically, if you ran a machine on 50 percent efficiency, you wouldn’t get as far as you would turning it off for an hour and using it then,” Rozas said. “This is how I see it.”
Professor of painting and drawing Frederick Ortner said when students turn in sketchbook assignments, he often notices the smaller doodles they create in their spare time and finds a pattern.
He said there are two groups of doodlers: those who mindlessly doodle in the margins of their notes and those who have been doodling since childhood and have perfected images they often think about.
Ortner said he believes those in the latter category have a highly creative subconscious.
“This desire to draw isn’t even a desire, but it’s an instinct,” Ortner said. “It goes back to our most ancient pasts. It seems to be something we can’t get away from. Some just do it more than others and use it to their advantage.”
Rozas said she would like to combine her skills in art and engineering as a design engineer. She credits doodling for her ability to see things from both a creative and scientific perspective.
As a teacher, Ortner said he thinks doodling can be productive or distracting depending on the illustrator’s intentions. He said he has no problem with students associating pictures with their notes, but he can see how it could become an issue.
“I truly think some people use it as a way to understand what’s going on around them,” Ortner said. “There’s two sides to everything though, but I’m in favor of anything that helps the students.”
University mechanical engineering senior, Alec Rozas, uses doodling to help her focus more in her classes.
