The Japanese Journal of Developmental Psychology

How Do Preschoolers Represent Their Nursery School Routines? : The Formation and Developmental Changes of General Event Representation.

Haruyo Fujisaki

Article type: Article
1995 Volume 6 Issue 2 Pages 99-111
Published: December 10, 1995
Released on J-STAGE: July 20, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11201/jjdp.6.99

JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

Show abstractHide abstract

Three to 5 year old preschoolers were interviewed about their daily living activities, to examine developmental changes in Generalized Event Representations (GER) of preschool routines. All children were asked about their routines, from arrival at preschool until departure, and some were also asked about their routines during lunch and nap times. Even 3 year olds formed GER, because they were able to describe routines in the present tense without referring to the subject. But the description of 3 year olds were fewer in number and more concrete than those of 4 or 5 year olds. The fact that some referred to their afternoon refreshments as meals suggested an over-extension of knowledge about refreshments and meals, which children acquired outside of preschool. Most 5 year olds, but not all, described the activities of daily living hierarchically. Individual differences were apparent in numbers of acts and in children's GER structures.

View full abstract

Download PDF (1356K)
Effects of Motion Image Words on Preschool Children's Pull and Push Motions : Psychological Validity of "Image Scheme" in Cognitive Meanings.

Arata Nishio

Article type: Article
1995 Volume 6 Issue 2 Pages 112-123
Published: December 10, 1995
Released on J-STAGE: July 20, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11201/jjdp.6.112

JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

Show abstractHide abstract

Using "image scheme" and "metaphorical proJection", Lakoff (1987) and Johnson (1987) provlded new insights into the development of concept formation, and showed the importance of the body-environment interaction. The present study of children established the psychological validity of the image scheme. In the first experiment there were two conditions : the "regular scheme" and the "reverse scheme". Children's motion images were tested for the two words, toru ("take") and watasu ("give"), which were used to prompt subjects to operate a device. For both words, there were significantly fewer correct responses under the "reverse scheme" condition. To further clarify the influence of a word's image on actual movement, a second experiment compared responses under two other conditions, one using toru/watasu instructions (motion image word) and the other directional ("this way") instructions (non-motion image word). Learning was faster under the motion image word condition. This study showed that the difference between actual movement and verbal "motion image" encourages learning, and indirectly confirmed the psychological validity of the image scheme.

View full abstract

Download PDF (1257K)
The Method of Story-Telling in the Story Production by Children.

Yukiko Nishikawa

Article type: Article
1995 Volume 6 Issue 2 Pages 124-133
Published: December 10, 1995
Released on J-STAGE: July 20, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11201/jjdp.6.124

JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

Show abstractHide abstract

This study is concerned methods of story-telling among children using picturebooks. Participants in Experiment 1 were 52 children, ages 3 to 6. The results showed that the "telling" of children from the age 4 1/2 was coherent. Experiment 2 analyzed the characteristics of "telling" among 50 children, ages 4 to 6. The children who thought of story-telling as story creation constructed stories which were expansive in scope, and spoke in a standard Japanese accent using many adverbs and conjunctions. Children over the age of 5 1/2, however, tended to respond differently, in their story creation comprehension and grasp of reportive information. In Experiment 3, 19 participants from Experiment 1, ages 4 to 6, were asked to tell a story to 3 year old children. In this situation, three children older than age 5 1/2 utilized both the story creation method and reportive method. This indicates that they may have been selective in their methods of telling stories, according to their understanding of the test situation.

View full abstract

Download PDF (1058K)
Effects of Understanding of Relational Concepts among Duration, Distance and Speed on Achievement in Math "Speed" in 5th Grade.

Fumiko Matsuda, Shoutarou Tanaka, Kazuhide Hara, Michihiko Matsuda

Article type: Article
1995 Volume 6 Issue 2 Pages 134-143
Published: December 10, 1995
Released on J-STAGE: July 20, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11201/jjdp.6.134

JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

Show abstractHide abstract

Twenty-seven school children took part in a longitudinal experiment which examined the development of the relational concepts among duration, distance and speed. The experiment was conducted once each year from the 1st through the 6th grade. In the experiment, three toy trains ran linearly one by one, at particular speeds and for particular durations and distances. Participants were asked to guess the relations among duration, distance and speed. Participants showed not only greater progress in understanding relatronal concepts but also better achievement in math "speed" in 5th grade, compared with other children who had not taken part in the experiment. The Japanese Ministry of Education has introduced the viewpoint into mathematics classes that speed is a quality which is obtained by division of two other quantities, and is represented by distance per unit time. However, the present results strongly suggest that this viewpoint makes it difficult for children to understand "speed".

View full abstract

Download PDF (1189K)
A Developmental Study of Drawing Behavior in Preschool Age and School Age Children.

Seiya Hirai, Ikuko Takenaka

Article type: Article
1995 Volume 6 Issue 2 Pages 144-154
Published: December 10, 1995
Released on J-STAGE: July 20, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11201/jjdp.6.144

JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

Show abstractHide abstract

The present study clarified developmental changes in the drawing behavior of children. Children ages 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 years were given the same three tasks. First, they selected from a set of cards the line drawing of a cylinder which they thought best represented an actual cylinder. Second, they chose from the same set of cards the best cylinder line drawing, which they intended to draw. Finally, they drew that cylinder using pastel crayons or pencils. The results showed that the first cognitive task was the easiest of the three, and that scores increased rapidly between ages 5 and 6. Second most difficult was the planning task, for which there was rapid improvement between ages 6 and 7. The drawing task was most difficult ; only 30% of the 9year olds could draw the cylinder using a perspective technique.

View full abstract

Download PDF (1032K)
Developmantal Changes of Negotiations in Self-Assertive Children's Play.

Yuko Takahama

Article type: Article
1995 Volume 6 Issue 2 Pages 155-163
Published: December 10, 1995
Released on J-STAGE: July 20, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11201/jjdp.6.155

JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

Show abstractHide abstract

This longitudinal study investigated the free play negotiation processes of two self-assertive 5 year olds. At two different preschools, each child's play was observed for two days, three times during the course of a year. Negotiation processes were analyzed from three points of view : skills, issues and groups, through children's behaviors to improve playing conditions when children could not share their plans. At first, playing conditions did not improve because of childen's few behaviors to improve playing conditions. After two months, children were able to successfully attempt active improvment of playing conditions. After five months, play also progressed even in unimproved conditions. Negotiaton skills were changed in both targets and their peers, and targets became more persuasive and strategical. Issues in negotiations were extended from formation to proceeding of play, and were divided from "structures" to "contents". Groups in which arise issues, were changed from within a group to other play groups. These results were discussed as developmental changes of structures in preschooler's play.

View full abstract

Download PDF (1045K)
[title in Japanese]

Article type: Appendix
1995 Volume 6 Issue 2 Pages 164-
Published: December 10, 1995
Released on J-STAGE: July 20, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11201/jjdp.6.164_1

JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

Download PDF (79K)
[title in Japanese]

[in Japanese]

Article type: Article
1995 Volume 6 Issue 2 Pages 164-166
Published: December 10, 1995
Released on J-STAGE: July 20, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11201/jjdp.6.164_2

JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

Download PDF (424K)
[title in Japanese]

[in Japanese]

Article type: Article
1995 Volume 6 Issue 2 Pages 166-167
Published: December 10, 1995
Released on J-STAGE: July 20, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11201/jjdp.6.166

JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

Download PDF (320K)
[title in Japanese]

[in Japanese], [in Japanese]

Article type: Article
1995 Volume 6 Issue 2 Pages 168-169
Published: December 10, 1995
Released on J-STAGE: July 20, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11201/jjdp.6.168

JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

Download PDF (331K)
[title in Japanese]

[in Japanese]

Article type: Article
1995 Volume 6 Issue 2 Pages 170-171
Published: December 10, 1995
Released on J-STAGE: July 20, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11201/jjdp.6.170

JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

Download PDF (252K)

Register with J-STAGE for free!