Cognitive challenges in teaching graphic disciplines to engineering specialists

Cognitive challenges in mastering graphic disciplines are attributed to the introduction of computer technologies. Graphics departments are reorienting the educational process towards teaching modern methods of computer 3D modeling. Opinions have been expressed about the secondary nature or even the rejection of drawings. This article proposes viewing drawings as a type of text. As a justification for the "linguistic turn", the unique role of natural language as a means of updating and disseminating knowledge is noted. The similarity of the main properties of drawings with those of texts is traced. These properties include the discreteness of text elements, conventionality, parametric style of describing objects, conceptuality, hierarchical structuring, and contextuality of perception. It is argued that the determining factor for the feasibility of drawings is not the geometric accuracy of images, but linguistic accuracy, which allows one to "understand" the drawing and establish a connection between the contents of the drawing and the technologies of producing an object or its computer model. The exceptional role of drawings as the language of technology is substantiated, and the possibility of replacing drawings with 3D modeling is rejected. The view of project documentation as an integral part of a single pyramid of knowledge is established. The role of the concept of computable knowledge in the effective use of knowledge is emphasized. A list of questions that can be included in the content of teaching the "language of technology" is provided.