A colorful image full of doodles. Text reads: The Secret Powers of Doodling
Illustrations by Linzie Hunter
Short Read,

The Secret Powers of Doodling

Doodling is fun, but can it also help you learn?

By Alex Lim-Chua Wee
From the November 2022 Issue
Complexity Factors
  • Purpose
    This article explores the science of doodling and how doodling can be beneficial.
  • Structure
    The text is informational.
  • Language Conventionality and Clarity
    Vocabulary: some challenging vocabulary (e.g., universal, tediously, absorbing) Conventionality: The language is mostly conventional.
Lexile: 920L
Featured Skill: Constructed Response,
Common Core Standards
  • Anchor Standards
    R.1, R.2, R.3, R.4, R.5, R.9, W.2, SL.1, SL.2, L.4, L.5, L.6
  • Grade 6
    RI.6.1, RI.6.2, RI.6.4, RI.6.6, RI.6.8, W.6.1, W.6.4, W.6.5, L.6.4, L.6.6
  • Grade 7
    RI.7.1, RI.7.2, RI.7.4, RI.7.6, RI.7.8, W.7.1, W.7.4, W.7.5, L.7.4, L.7.6
  • Grade 8
    RI.8.1, RI.8.2, RI.8.4, RI.8.6, RI.8.8, W.8.1, W.8.4, W.8.5, L.8.4, L.8.6
TEKS Standards
  • Grades 6, 7, 8
    1d, 2a, 2b, 3a, 4a, 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d, 5e, 5f, 5g, 5h, 5i, 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d, 6e, 6f, 6g, 6h, 6i, 8d, 8f, 9a, 9b, 9c, 9d, 9e, 9f, 11b, 11c

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Courtesy Ronald Reagan Library

President Reagan with one of his doodles

Picture this: The year is 1988. President Ronald Reagan sits at his desk in the Oval Office. When he picks up his pen, he has extraordinary powers. He can sign a bill into law, he can send U.S. troops into battle, or . . . he can doodle horses and cowboy hats during a long, boring meeting.

Reagan was famous for doodling, and he’s not the only one. More than half of U.S. presidents doodled. In the 1800s, Queen Victoria of Great Britain doodled donkeys. Apple founder Steve Jobs was known for doodling pictures of envelopes.

Shouldn’t these important people have been paying attention to the matters at hand?

As it turns out, doodling might have helped them do exactly that, and it might help you focus too.

“As soon as children can hold a piece of chalk, they doodle on the sidewalk.”

Everyone Doodles

Doodles are casual scribbles and sketches—the pictures, shapes, and squiggles we find ourselves scrawling on napkins and notebooks. According to Sunni Brown, author of The Doodle Revolution, doodling is a universal behavior. “It’s as natural as singing and dancing,” she says. “As soon as children can hold a piece of chalk, they doodle on the sidewalk.”

Of course, people have been doodling since long before chalk and sidewalks even existed. Thousands of years ago, our ancestors made simple drawings in the sand and on cave walls. It wasn’t until recently, however, that scientists began asking an important question: Why do we doodle?

Doodles, Not Daydreams

In 2009, a psychologist named Jackie Andrade designed an experiment to help determine why we doodle. To test the relationship between memory and doodling, she divided 40 people into two groups and instructed everyone to listen to a recording of a tediously long voice mail. One group was told to doodle shapes while listening, and the other group was not. In the end, the doodlers recalled 29 percent more of the voice mail. In other words, doodling seemed to help them remember what they heard. 

Still, many people view doodling as a silly distraction. It’s often thought of as something we do when we lose focus. But in fact, doodling can help us keep focus. 

Here’s how it works: When you’re learning something new, your brain can grow tired. You might start to zone out, daydreaming about that cheesy pizza you plan to eat for lunch or the tricky violin solo you’ve been perfecting. You might even fall asleep. This is when doodling can be an effective strategy. It enables your brain to stay active while still getting a bit of a break. It’s enough to keep you alert—but usually not so absorbing that you stop paying attention, as you would if you played on your phone or watched TV.

Staying focused isn’t the only potential benefit of doodling. It may improve your mood too. Researchers have found that doodling can have the same uplifting effect on your brain as laughing or eating chocolate. 

Don’t Over-Doodle It

It is possible, however, for doodling to become a distraction. If it slips into finishing your graphic novel or sketching detailed pictures of your cat, you probably aren’t focusing on much else. 

To prevent yourself from getting too wrapped up in your doodle when you need to be paying attention, Brown suggests drawing doodles related to what you’re trying to focus on—a volcano while learning about magma, for instance. Creating that visual can help you retain what you’re hearing.

So the next time you need help focusing, try doodling. Who knows? It might just put you on the path to the White House.

Short Write: How does the author support her claim that doodling can be beneficial?

Directions: In your own document, answer the question above in a well-organized paragraph. Be sure to use at least two pieces of text evidence to support your answer.

This article was originally published in the November 2022 issue.

Audio ()
Activities (5)
Core Skills Workout
  • The Core Skills Workout is a series of skill-based activities that will help your students "bulk up" in the comprehension skills they need most to become strong, analytical readers. The Core Skills Workout comes with every issue and will support your reading program no matter what your scope and sequence.
Reference
Skill-Building Activities
Skills Activities
Quizzes (1)
Answer Key (1)
Audio ()
Activities (5)
Core Skills Workout
  • The Core Skills Workout is a series of skill-based activities that will help your students "bulk up" in the comprehension skills they need most to become strong, analytical readers. The Core Skills Workout comes with every issue and will support your reading program no matter what your scope and sequence.
Reference
Skill-Building Activities
Skills Activities
Quizzes (1)
Answer Key (1)
Step-by-Step Lesson Plan

Close Reading, Critical Thinking, Skill Building

Download the Lesson Plan

1. PREPARING TO READ

Project the Words and Definitions handout and preview the vocabulary.

2. READING AND DISCUSSING 

Read the article as a class. Alternatively, you can play the audio version while students follow along in their printed issues.

3. DOING THE ACTIVITY 

Have students work in small groups to complete the activity at the end of the article. They will write a claim, find a piece of text evidence, and explain why that evidence supports their claim.

4. WRITING 

  • To go deeper, use the Short Write Kit. First, project the How to Answer a Constructed-Response Question handout and review it as a class. Then have students work on their own or in groups to complete the self-guided writing activity Constructing a Response.
  • Have students use their completed activities to craft their own constructed responses.
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