Drawing is more than an artistic activity. When learners sketch an idea, they select information, visualize relationships, and create an external representation of what they understand.
Research suggests that these processes can support memory, comprehension, and deeper learning (Van Meter & Garner, 2005; Fiorella & Zhang, 2018).
Introduction
A rough sketch can sometimes communicate an idea more clearly than a page of notes. This is because drawing requires us to do something with information rather than simply receive it. We decide what matters, how ideas connect, and how an abstract concept can be represented visually.
In this sense, drawing isn’t only a product of thinking; it can also be a process of thinking.
Drawing makes learning active
Learner-generated drawing requires people to transform information into a visual representation. This process can encourage them to organize important elements and relationships rather than simply repeat the words they’ve read (Van Meter & Garner, 2005).
Research with students has found that drawing can support learning from explanatory texts, particularly when learners receive appropriate guidance (Schmeck et al., 2014). Drawing prompts have also been shown to improve learning efficiency and delayed learning when integrated into educational technology (Fiorella & Zhang, 2018).
Sketching creates multiple representations
One reason drawing may be useful is that it gives learners another way to represent information. Dual Coding Theory proposes that cognition can involve interconnected verbal and non-verbal systems (Paivio, 1991).
A learner who writes the word volcano and also sketches its structure is working with more than one form of representation.
However, the benefit isn’t simply the presence of a picture. The learner’s active construction of the representation appears to matter (Fiorella & Zhang, 2018; Leopold & Mayer, 2015).
Long-term learning
The relationship between drawing and memory has received particularly strong experimental attention. In seven experiments, Wammes et al. (2016) found that participants recalled drawn words better than written words.
The researchers suggested that drawing may integrate semantic, visual, and motor aspects of the memory trace.
Later research also found evidence that drawing can create recollection-based memory benefits (Wammes et al., 2018). Importantly, these findings don’t mean that artistic skill is required.
The cognitive act of representing information appears to be more important than producing an aesthetically impressive image.
But drawing isn’t a magic solution
The evidence should still be interpreted carefully. Drawing can require additional time and cognitive effort, and its effectiveness can depend on the task and the support provided to learners (Fiorella & Zhang, 2021).
Research has also suggested that visualization and externalization may be more important than the simple act of generating a drawing (Schmeck et al., 2014).
This makes instructional design important. A useful educational sketch should help learners represent meaning, structure, relationships, or processes, rather than simply decorate a page.
Implications for education
Teachers can use sketching across disciplines. Students can draw a scientific process, map the relationships between historical events, visualize a mathematical concept, or create a visual representation of a literary character.
Recent research has also explored combining generative drawing with retrieval practice, suggesting that drawing may become even more useful when learners are encouraged to retrieve information rather than simply copy it (Fiorella et al., 2025).
Conclusion
Drawing deserves a place in learning not because every student needs to become an artist, but because visual representation can become a way of organizing thought.
A sketch can make relationships visible, give abstract ideas a concrete form, and create additional routes for remembering information.
In education, the simplest drawing on a page may therefore represent something much more significant: a learner actively making sense of the world.
