Research on the Effects of the Sense of Touch on Expression Activities

—One Consideration of the Examination of Developmental Stage Tables from Infancy to Adolescence as Observed in Expression Activities Using Clay—

Abstract

This study aimed to summarize the developmental stages from infancy to adolescence as observed in expression activities using clay. In the present research, which is the second study in a series, I reexamine the developmental stages table created in the first study based on the relationship between the sense of touch and expression activities and reveal the developmental characteristics of expressions. The survey for this research was conducted among students in the second and fourth grades of elementary school and the second year of junior high. Students touch one of five objects with different textures with their hands while their vision was blocked and perform activities to express what they felt by touching it with paper clay. I considered the characteristics of the students’ expressions based on their worksheets, expressions, and activity records. It became clear that the tendency of expression increased as the school grade increased, from expressions using concrete forms that were recalled from concepts and perceptions to abstract expressions that did not use concrete forms, regardless of the five objects touched. The characteristics of each expression and the time when the expression expanded have been organized and positioned as one of the new characteristics of development.