The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of young children's woodwork play upon the development of their spatial ability and sociality.
Young children's woodwork play in general can cultivate their concentration in the sphere of cognit...
The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of young children's woodwork play upon the development of their spatial ability and sociality.
Young children's woodwork play in general can cultivate their concentration in the sphere of cognitive development by making them examine the physical characteristic and difference of various objects, develop their number concept via their examining the relationship between the whole and parts, the relationship of objects with space, size comparison, length measurement and so on, and promote the development of scientific thinking ability through their observing the cause and effect of physically changing process of objects.
In addition, since young children's woodwork play can help the development of their sociality in the course of the play by sharing tools and materials, giving a helping hand each other and holding objects when sawing, recognizing others' actions and waiting for their turns, it seems to have positive influence upon the development of sociality.
In this vein, this study was initiated to concretely confirm whether young children cultivate their spatial ability via handling objects with the cooperation of eyes and hands or eyes and physical movements in the course of woodwork play and via recognizing the geometric shapes in a space and the relationship among more than two objects, and whether young children's woodwork play has positive influence upon the development of their sociality via such interactive actions as sharing tools and materials, giving a helping hand each other and holding objects when sawing, and recognizing others' actions and waiting for their turns.
In order to achieve study goals, the investigator composed an experiment group, a comparison group and a control group with 82 5-year-old children. The age scope of study subjects was limited to 55~65 months. And 27 children were distributed into the experiment group, 28 children for the comparison group and 27 children for the control group.
The experiment group carried out woodwork play in 12 sessions over the period of six weeks from March 15 (Monday) to April 30 (Friday), 2010. The comparison group carried out painting activities (drawing) for the same period, whereas the control group did not carry out any painting activities. And before and after the experiment, the development of spatial ability and sociality of all the children were tested.
Study findings are as follows:
First, young children's woodwork play had positive influence upon the development of their spatial ability. The experiment group presented the same or similar level of development of spatial ability with the comparison group which carried out cooperative painting activities.
In concrete, the experiment group presented the same level of development in the cooperation between eyes and movements (F=7.815, p<.001), spatial reasoning (F=8.991, p<.001), perception of shape and ground (F=22.028, p<.001), visual memory and recollection (F=9.485, p<.001) and recognition of location in a space (F=12.391, p<.001) with the comparison group which carried out cooperative painting activities. The experiment group's development was statistically more significant than the control group.
Second, young children's woodwork play had positive influence upon the development of their sociality. The experiment group presented the same or similar level of development of sociality with the comparison group which carried out cooperative painting activities.
In concrete, the experiment group presented the same level of development in the social activity (F=34.075, p<.001), social cooperation (F=14.536, p<.001) and social stability (F=13.427, p<.001) with the comparison group which carried out cooperative painting activities. The experiment group's development was statistically more significant than the control group.
Based on study findings, study conclusion is presented as follows:
First, young children's woodwork play had positive influence upon the development of their spatial ability.
Second, young children's woodwork play had positive influence upon the development of their sociality.
The investigator presents following suggestions for follow-up studies:
First, studies for the confirmation of the influence of young children's woodwork play on the actual scene of education upon the development of their cognitive and emotional development must be carried out continuously.
Second, programs for the application of woodwork play to the actual scene of young children's education must be continuously developed.
Third, in order for young children's woodwork play to be effectively settled down on the actual scene of education, the issue of safety must be solved.