You remember that feeling. It's the smell of floor wax and pencil shavings, and you're hunched over a desk that's slightly too small. You're supposed to be taking notes on the War of 1812, but instead, you're doodling. A tiny, detailed eye in the margin of your notebook. Maybe a series of 3D cubes. Going to school drawing is basically a universal experience, but it’s more than just a way to kill time during a boring lecture. Honestly, it’s one of the most underrated ways we actually process information.
Doodling isn't just "messing around."
Most people think that if a kid is drawing in class, they aren't paying attention. Science says otherwise. Dr. Jackie Andrade, a professor of psychology at the University of Plymouth, published a famous study in Applied Cognitive Psychology back in 2009. She found that people who doodled while listening to a monotonous telephone message recalled 29% more information than those who didn't. Think about that. Nearly a third more data stuck in their brains just because they were moving a pen. It turns out that going to school drawing is actually a cognitive strategy to stay awake and keep the "default mode network" of the brain from wandering off into a full-blown daydream about lunch.
The Cognitive Science of the Margin Sketch
When we talk about going to school drawing, we’re talking about "externalizing" thoughts. You’ve probably noticed that when you draw a diagram of a cell or a map of a historical battle, you understand it better than if you just read the text. It’s called the Drawing Effect.
A 2018 study led by Myra Fernandes at the University of Waterloo proved that drawing is a more effective way to retain information than writing, visualization, or even looking at images. Why? Because it forces your brain to encode the information in multiple ways. You’re processing it spatially, visually, and kinesthetically. It’s like a triple-threat for your neurons.
It’s kinda funny how we’ve stigmatized it. Teachers used to snatch those drawings away. "Pay attention," they’d say. But for many students—especially those with ADHD or other neurodivergent traits—going to school drawing is the only thing keeping them grounded in the room. Without that tactile output, the brain just checks out. It hits a wall.
Why Digital Tablets Change Everything (and Nothing)
These days, going to school drawing looks different. You see iPads and Apple Pencils everywhere. In 2026, the tech has reached a point where the latency is almost zero, meaning it feels like real paper. But does it work the same?
Sorta.
There is a tactile feedback you get from graphite on paper that haptic motors still haven't perfectly replicated. Research from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) has shown that the brain is more active when writing and drawing by hand than when typing. The intricate movements of the hand stimulate the brain’s learning patterns. So, whether you’re using a high-end Wacom or a chewed-up No. 2 pencil, the act of creation is what matters.
The Social Life of School Drawings
Let’s be real: school isn't just about academics. It's a social ecosystem. Going to school drawing is often about communication. Think about the "S" thing—you know the one. That weird, geometric "S" that every kid in the 90s and 2000s knew how to draw, even though nobody ever "taught" it. It’s a piece of folklore.
Drawing becomes a currency.
I knew a kid in high school who would draw custom characters for people on the back of their folders for five dollars. That’s a business model. It’s networking. It’s a way to find your tribe. In an environment that can often feel sterile and standardized, a drawing is an act of rebellion. It’s saying, "I am here, and I have an internal world that you can’t see unless I show you."
Visual Note-Taking: The Professional Version
There’s a fancy name for going to school drawing when you grow up: Skelchnoting.
Sunni Brown, author of The Doodle Revolution, has been a massive advocate for this. She argues that we are losing our "visual literacy" because we stop drawing around the fourth grade. We start believing that unless we’re "artists," we shouldn't draw. That’s total nonsense. You don’t have to be Leonardo da Vinci to draw a flow chart or a stick figure to represent a concept.
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Companies like Google and Zappos actually hire graphic recorders to come into meetings and draw what people are saying. They recognize that a visual map of a conversation is more useful than twenty pages of typed minutes that no one will ever read. If you’re a student today, leaning into the habit of going to school drawing could actually be preparing you for a high-level career in design thinking or systems architecture.
Common Misconceptions About Doodling
People love to categorize. You're either a "math person" or an "art person." This binary is a lie. Some of the greatest scientists in history were obsessive about their school-era drawings.
- Leonardo da Vinci: His notebooks are the gold standard. He blurred the lines between anatomy, engineering, and art.
- Richard Feynman: The Nobel Prize-winning physicist used "Feynman Diagrams" to visualize subatomic particle behavior. These started as sketches. They are drawings that explain the universe.
- Beatrix Potter: Long before Peter Rabbit, she was obsessed with drawing scientific illustrations of fungi. Her "schooling" was basically one long drawing session.
The idea that drawing is a distraction is a leftover from the industrial-age education model where the goal was to produce compliant factory workers who could sit still for eight hours. But we don’t live in that world anymore. We live in a world that prizes creativity and "out of the box" thinking.
How to Lean Into Drawing Without Getting in Trouble
If you’re a student—or a parent of a student—who can't stop going to school drawing, there are ways to make it work for you rather than against you.
First, try Active Sketching. Instead of drawing random monsters (though those are cool too), try to draw the concepts being discussed. If the teacher is talking about the water cycle, draw the clouds, the rain, and the runoff. Use arrows. Use different colors if you can. This is called "dual coding," and it is an absolute superpower for exams.
Second, don't be secretive about it. Honestly, if a teacher sees that your drawings are actually related to the lesson, they’re usually pretty impressed. It shows you’re engaging with the material.
Third, keep a dedicated "side-notebook." Sometimes you just need to draw something that has nothing to do with school. Having a separate space for that prevents your actual class notes from becoming a chaotic mess that you can't read later.
The Mental Health Angle
We can't ignore the stress of modern education. The pressure to perform is intense. Going to school drawing acts as a pressure valve. It’s a form of "micro-meditation." When you’re focused on the line work of a drawing, your heart rate actually slows down. It’s a grounding technique.
For many, the art room is the only place in the school building where they feel safe to fail. In math, a mistake is a wrong answer. In drawing, a mistake is just a "happy accident," as Bob Ross famously put it. That mindset is vital for resilience.
Actionable Steps for the Visual Learner
If you want to turn your "distraction" into a tool, here is how you do it effectively.
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- Invest in the right tools. If you prefer analog, get a pen that glides. Friction is the enemy of flow. If you're digital, find an app like Procreate or GoodNotes that allows for easy layering.
- Learn basic iconography. You don't need to be an artist. Learn how to draw a simple lightbulb for "ideas," a gear for "processes," and a speech bubble for "quotes." This is the alphabet of visual note-taking.
- Review your drawings. A week after you draw something in class, look at it again. Does the image bring back the memory of what the teacher was saying? Usually, it does—much faster than a paragraph of text would.
- Connect with others. Share your sketches. Start a "study-gram" or a Discord group. You'll find that seeing how other people visualize the same information can fill in the gaps in your own understanding.
Going to school drawing isn't a sign of a wandering mind. It’s the sign of a mind that is actively trying to make sense of the world. It’s a bridge between the abstract words of a textbook and the concrete reality of our lives. So, next time you feel that itch to pick up the pen, do it. Your brain will thank you.