Effect of Kitchen Knife Specifically Developed for Children on Skill Learning

Abstract

The author had a special kitchen knife made for children with a view to improving proficiency in group lessons of skill learning. When designing the knife, the author paid attention to its size and weight in view of children's hands and fingers as well as their grip force. To determine the effect of this knife on skill learning, I compared the degree of proficiency such as the cutting time as well as the number and thickness of cut pieces, using three different knives: a special kitchen knife designed by the author, a full-size kitchen knife available in the market, and a peeling knife which is similar to the ordinary kitchen knife for children in terms of size and weight. The comparison shows that children were able to cut objects thinner in a shorter time with the peeling knife as well as the special kitchen knife than with the full-size kitchen knife. Apart from the cutting results, the movement of cutting when dealing with objects of differing degrees of hardness was also analyzed to compare and review respective knife movement. The results of the kitchen knife movement analysis shows that the individual differences of non-cutting time for the kitchen knife for children, which is an idling time from the moment of finishing cutting one piece to the moment of moving on to the next, were less varied compared to the peeling knife. From this result, it may be concluded that the kitchen knife specifically designed for children is effective in learning kitchen knife skill, especially for group lessons, because individual difference is less likely to occur.