Cultivating High-Order Thinking through Kadô:

Cultural Experience through “Kadô Flower Arrangement – Capturing Nature’s Essence” (2021)

Abstract

In this paper, I report on Kadô activities used in class to develop Japanese language skills while also learning about Japanese culture. The goal of the class was to learn “what Kadô is” and to understand “the spirit of Kadô”, so we began by reading about the philosophy of Kadô and how to arrange flowers. We then watched “KadôFlower Arrangement – Capturing Nature’s Essence” (2021), a part of Japan Video Topics, to further deepen our understanding. Through such activities, students are able to learn abstract expressions from concrete ones and cultivate higher-order thinking. This kind of activity also functions as a way of connecting different cultures.