Learning aspects of young children's first participation in “zoukingake” in a kindergarten: Focusing on emergent exploratory body movements

Abstract

This paper aims to reveal the various aspects which emerge when the children explore their own body movements while participating in a cultural practice so called “zoukingake”. Zoukingake is an act of cleaning floor by wiping it using a cloth held down with both hands, where the actor moves him/herself towards a desired direction by walking or running with their legs. I observed a kindergarten class with 3-year-old children and analyzed the relationship among the children's bodies, the pieces of cloth they used, and the floor. Based on my observation, I described that children had changed their ways to wipe to various ways to do, and they explored their movements that lost their bodily balance, while trying to keep their posture stable. Also, during cleaning with the cloth, “zoukin”, the children worked actively to understand the characteristics of the cloth, by deforming its shape. Furthermore, the children performed zoukingake better after observing the movements of others in the interaction process. The process of participation through their exploratory movements,which dynamically changed according to the situation, elucidates some aspects of the “knowledge” of children, which was created in their kindergarten life.