Practicality and Fictionality in Children's Activities

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to clarify the structure and property of the concept of "practicality and fictionality" (advanced by Masakazu Ishikawa) that expresses duality of children's activities, and to consider its significance for personal development. For this purpose, I tried hypothesizing following three aspects to grasp the concept of "practicality and fictionality" and arranging this concept along each aspect. 1. Aspect of motivation or purpose in activities, 2. Aspect of objectivity in activities, 3. Aspect of cooperativity in activities. Among today's children, dominant activities are the ones in which practicality and fictionality are separated or in which these two are adhered in distorted form. Therefore, in educational practice, it is demanded that children's activities are reconstructed in the view point of practicality and fictionality, and that the significant activities for personal development are created.