Full Length Research Paper
ABSTRACT
This study was performed to determine how pre-school children fictionalize the past by using their imagination skills in the process of historical thinking. The participants were 14 children who attended pre-school. The data for the study were collected through the pictures drawn by the children and through the interviews made with them about these pictures. The obtained data were resolved in compliance with the semiotic analysis technique within the frame of qualitative research method. According to the results of the study, it can be said that historical imagination skills in pre-school children develop independent of age. The undeveloped motor skills of children and their effort to change the concept seen in their drawings to form the past on the perception of today (anachronogical thinking) can be said to be what makes it hard to compose a successful imagination. Nevertheless, the short interaction span of children with historical objects and figures; their insufficient interests and perceptions and the gender factor can be suggested to cause difference in how children fictionalize historical imagination.
Key words: Pre-school history education, historical skills, historical imagination, drawing.
INTRODUCTION
Many theoreticians of education and development have put it forward that the education of history cannot be given to children at early ages and have supported this argument with their studies (Egan, 1982). Depending on their experiences, the educationalists who defended Piaget towards the middle of the century advocated that children cannot achieve some basic concepts of historical understanding until adulthood period and thus to teach history to children at early ages is a useless situation to be abandoned (Dilek, 2007). However, the results of later studies find it extremely doubtful to implement Piaget’s theory to history. Children’s understanding of factual history is seen to be a very slow process. It is deduced that historical understanding is not something to come up suddenly or to be completed rapidly, but something to be developed (Egan, 1982). In a thought parallel to this, Egan names historical understanding as a “hierarchical complementary” process to be developed (Dickson et al., 1984). But, this is not a process of one towards the other. Rather, it is an integrated stage going from a lower stage to the next. At this stage, he mentions that early historical learning has a prerequisite value and at the same time builds a structure (Egan, 1982).
According to Egan (1982), the first stage of a history education to be given to children at early ages should be composed of real events, heroes, places and times. It is observed in the studies, that when the events and figures of the past were given in accordance with age, the children could understand abstract topics and themes although they could not evaluate and list them (Alleman and Brophy, 2003).
Fines (2002) bases a successful historical fiction on imagination[1] in historical thinking (Dilek and Yapıcı, 2005). Collingwood (1996) and Graff (1999) regard historical context with a successful imagination as important qualities to make direct contribution to historical understanding and thinking. Büyüktuncay (2014) argues that historical imagination provides a continuation between the thoughts in the past and in the present, and between historical situations and present situations by functioning as a revitalization of the thoughts of the people who lived in the past. Similarly, Lee suggests that empathy and imagination with understanding affect the development of historical thinking skill (Dilek, 2009: 635).
According to Piaget’s classification, “usage of images” in the process of cognitive development starts at pre-process period (ages 2 to 7). At this period, the child starts to distinguish the determiners (objective state, words and images replacing objects) from meanings (not perceived states–events implied by these words and images) (Öçalan, 2006). Ranke, on the other hand, relates the source of a successful imagination with the empathy in the narrations rather than age factor and bases it on a detailed study over historical sources (Wolnerr, 2008). Dilek (2009: 635) revealed that “being disciplined of imagination through the use of visual and/or written primary and secondary sources and evidence plays a part in students’ skills of historical thinking and understanding”. Dilek and SoÄŸucaklı-Yapıcı (2005) care about evidence-based imagination in respect that it creates products that can be accepted by the discipline of history. Fines (2002) puts imagination among effective techniques of learning and advises teachers to encourage students to use primary sources as knowledge source in forming fictional products (Yapıcı, 2006). Educational theoreticians have transformed the understanding of “knowing an object means acting on it” through English educational programs, depending on the findings of psychiatrists like Piaget. “From now on, [without] hiding the objects in show cases in English museums, reproductions of objects are presented to the children”. Museums were converted into “touchable museums” (Ata, 1999: 39). Studying objects through museum trips will activate the iconic learning stage in children (Dilek, 2009). Our study bases the development of historical thinking skill on “an imagination to enforce a successful historical fiction” in children, so that history education can be given at early ages (Dilek and SoÄŸucaklı-Yapıcı, 2005). Supporting this view, Collingwood (1996) and Graff (1999) regard historical context with a successful imagination as important features to make direct contributions to historical understanding and thinking. The museums containing historical sources on first hand can be regarded as important centres to the development of historical thinking and imagination skills in children at this age. Museum is a place which subjects children to a broad cultural heritage (Howard, 2013). According to the performed studies, children’s visit to the museum at early ages positively affects their cognitive, social, and emotional development parallel to their brain development and offers them a broad learning environment (Munley, 2012). It is believed that a museum trip to be carried out in the context of this research will have a functional role in revealing how people lived at different times and in different places. The aim of this study is to reveal how pre-school children fictionalize the past by using their imagination skills in the historical thinking process with a museum tour.
Sub-purposes of the study are determined as:
(1) Revealing children’s skills of fictionalizing the past in compliance with historical imagination and historical context through pictures drawn by them;
(2) Determining the factors that affect children’s historical imagination skills.
[1]Visual image is formed of our eyesight. Object is seen; the outer lines, mass, colour of the object is recorded in the brain as an “image” by passing through eye lenses. In this process, it is only the outlook of the object that the brain records. But, we know or later learn depending on our experiences and lives that the object has some features that are not seen by the eye. This is the content of that object and is related to perception. We can envisage the images recorded in the brain when needed. What we try to envisage is the memory image and is less definite than visual image (Büyükbacak, 2008).
METHODOLOGY
Study design
In this study, case study, which is one of the qualitative research methods, is used. Case study is about studying an event, an institution, or an individual intensively, deeply and in details (Glesne, 2013). In the study, one inter woven case pattern is used which is one of the case study patterns. One case in the pattern may be generally composed of many layers or units (Yıldırım and Şimşek, 2008). In the study performed, the discussed case is the determination of historical imagination skills of children in the pictures they drew at preschool period. The sub-analysis units included in this case study are fourteen preschool children between the ages of 48 and 72 month. A critical analysis of units is believed to reveal the case study in a detailed way. Based on the data obtained separately for this purpose, efforts were made to obtain the best results for the study.
Participants
This research was performed with 14 students between ages 4.5 and 6 years in a pre-school class. Of the pictures drawn by these 14 students, six pictures (Table 1) were chosen as a typical state exemplification from the purposed exemplification methods. The objective is to make a universal generalization by choosing the most typical pictures (Yıldırım and Şimşek, 2008).
Data collecting tools
The data collecting tools of the research consist of the pictures the children drew and the interview records with children about these pictures. Attempt was made to increase the internal validity of the comments through the findings obtained from two different data collecting tools (Table 2) (Yıldırım and Şimşek, 2008).
Analysis of data
The pictures drawn by children were analysed semiologically. In semiological analysis, how the drawn figures are formed, or form a meaning is regarded. In this process, attempt was made to reveal the dynamics included beyond the meanings seen in the picture or meanings underlying the shallow definitions (Glesne, 2013). Within this frame, the pictures drawn by children were primarily examined by the researcher and two branch experts (history teacher and visual arts expert) in the analysis of data. In this examination, an effort was made to reveal how the components of each picture will be analysed and a technique was developed. The utilized technique was formulated in three stages as descriptive meaning, personal meaning, and inner meaning through the use of Panofsky’s “iconographic definition” (natural meaning), “conventional and internal meaning classification” (BoztaÅŸ and Düz, 2014: 321) and through the use of Pierce’s trilogy as “iconic sign, indication and symbol” (Türkcan, 2013: 586).
The stages of analysis are as follows:
(1) Definitional meaning analysis: The stage of “definitional meaning” in the analysis of the images included in the children’s pictures is called “pre-iconographic analysis” according to Panofsky and “visual indicator” according to Pierce. It is a stage in which visual indicators in the picture are likened to definite objects and named by the researcher (Türkcan, 2013).
(2) Personal meaning analysis: The second stage of analysis “Personal Meaning” is called “iconographic definition” according to Panofsky. In this stage, images formed by the children are analysed by the interviewers with children. This stage includes the analysis data of interviews with children, because in order to have good understanding of what the children’s pictures express, one has to listen to the children talk about their pictures. According to Laquet (1927), the most important reason for this is that children have the tendency to draw “what they know” rather than “what they see” in their pictures (Batı, 2012). Thus, it is important for them to explain their pictures in order to understand what they are trying to express. This is an attempt to reduce the error and bias margin in the data analysis and to increase the reliability of the research work (Yıldırım and ÅžimÅŸek, 2008).
For example, in the picture of E3 (67 month old) themed PaÅŸa Dede and My Heart (Picture 3), it was very difficult to explain what the drawn objects and figures were exactly. Whereas in the interview with him, E3 explained the contents of his picture as: “PaÅŸa Dede’ smoking, his gun, exploding bomb, bleu car, flying plane, fish, cloud, light, I and Duru ( two stickmen), my heart, plane, rabbit, exploded fish and flying fish.
(3) Contextual meaning analysis: The third examination is the “contextual analysis” stage. While visual product is being analysed at the stage of “contextual meaning”, it is assessed based on the Lowenfeld artistic development stages: (Doodling, Ages 2 to 4; Before scheme, Ages 4 to 7; Schematic, Ages 7 to 9; and Birth stage of reality, ages 9 to 11); and Fines’ imagination periods and historical thinking skills (time, change and continuity) (Batı, 2012). Fines divides children’s “imagination periods” in historical meaning into two stages: “stable” and “continual” imagination. He defines the first stage, stable imagination as a stage where even though not the whole, some parts of the past are seen and drawn exactly the same way. He classifies the second stage continual imagination as a more comprehensive stage at which the student explains what he/she has drawn by depending on the sources while explaining (Dilek, 2009). For example, in an analysis carried out at this stage, E3’s drawing of a fez on the head of PaÅŸa Dede shows that he made a stable imagination about the past by taking advantage of the fez on PaÅŸa Dede which he saw in the museum (Source 1 and Picture 3). Correct definitions of images were used for an accurate iconographic resolution at the stage of contextual meaning. In accordance with all stages of analysis, the children’s pictures were discussed and analyzed depending on specialist’s branch (history education and visual arts) and researcher’s opinions; and efforts were made to increase the researcher’s opinion and internal validity of deductions. Meanwhile, efforts were made to increase the external reliability of this research by writing the findings of the study clearly and by showing the pictures drawn by the children (Yıldırım and ÅžimÅŸek, 2008).
RESULTS
Results of E1’s picture about its definitional, personal and internal meaning
Definitional meaning analysis
E1 tried to draw details about PaÅŸa Dede and the weapons he saw and remembered from the exhibition in and arrow are displayed in a different part while rifles are displayed in another part (Source 1). E1 tried to classify the weapons (sword, rifle, and bullet) according to what he saw in the museum. The details about the weapons (Picture 1) in his drawings can be related to social gender factor.
Personal meaning analysis
E1 stated that he drew PaÅŸa Dede, his knives, rifles, swords, and guns in his picture.
Internal meaning analysis
Definite distinguishing features were prominent in E1’s drawing. This is expected to be so at the before scheme stage (ages 4 to 7) of artistic development based on his age. In E1’s drawings, details like black clothes, red fez, and black beards were observed (Picture 1). Corres-ponding colours were used in order to reflect real objects and persons. Considering the figure of PaÅŸa Dede which was drawn in conformity with the human anatomy. Real figures and objects were tired to be reflected by using real colors. When these details are considered, E1’s drawings comply with the artistic features of Birth Stage of realism (ages 9 to 12). The outstading feature of this stage is the wish of children to draw the objects in the nature in conformity with origin (Yavuzer, 2009). In general, E1 displays definite drawing features of the two aforementioned artistic development stages (before scheme stage ages 4 to 7 and schematic stage ages 7 to 9) in his pictures.
Considering the content of E1’s drawings, it was observed that he drew all the weapons which were on the display stand, but also included bullets which were not part of the display. It can thus be suggested that E1 drew the bullets based on his pre-knowledge of the correlation between guns and bullets and thus drew the bullets according to reality. If it is to be considered that weapon and bullet are exhibited in other parts of the museum, E1’s inclusion of bullets in his drawing can be supported by the idea that he might have used his pre-knowledge (Source 1). This means that he could not differentiate between the weapons he saw before and those he saw later, and thus mixed them all up (Cengiz, 2001). This case can also be explained as “concept change” according to Yanbeyi (1994) or a case of lack of ability. The important point is the fact that fez and some other objects were drawn and coloured in conformity with the original.
E1’s study points out the presence of a continual imagination in respect that it tends to benefit from different sources (museum observation, photograph, etc).
When the drawing of PaÅŸa Dede in the illustration was examined carefully, it was observed that E1 made an effort for his drawing to resemble PaÅŸa Dede in the diorama by adding hat and moustache to his drawing of PaÅŸa Dede. PaÅŸa Dede’s picture was bigger than other objects. This feature in E1’s drawing is described as “height hierarchy” and is widely observed in this age group (Yanbeyi, 1994). In E1’s picture, PaÅŸa Dede is seen in work wear. This shows that he viewed the historical context from today’s perception. While his changing of PaÅŸa Dede’s pantalets for jupe (illustrated as work wear) may be caused by his inability to distinguish among objects.
E1 generally drew his illustration in conformity with the historical context and it tended to benefit from historical sources. This indicates the presence of imagination. On the other hand, the lack of historical objects (jupe, pantalets, belt, etc.) and lack of completion in the imagination process and in some respects getting away from historical fact indicate that some problems were encountered in putting this imagination into work.
Results of E2’s picture about its definitional, personal and internal meaning
Definitional meaning analysis
E2 wanted to trace around what he saw as a whole from an aerial point of view. This is due to the ‘narrative feature’ of a child within this age group, “[….] and as a result of his anxiety to define his knowledge on the topic unfailingly, and to fit them into the surface he already established” (Cengiz, 2001: 12). Thus, there are so many details in the picture drawn by E2. Nevertheless, the cloud, the sun, and dog are the objects outside the museum (Picture 2).
Personal meaning analysis
In the interview with him, he explained that the things that he drew were “PaÅŸa Dede sitting on a couch while the dog and the wolf are fighting”. The other items in his drawing include: “PaÅŸa Dede’s chain watch, cupboard, sofas, cloud, sun and for the house, museum, window, and stairs. In E2’s picture (Picture 2), the objects were drawn separately. This according to Freeman is caused by the fact that children lack the drawing and coordination ability until age 7 (Yavuzer, 2009). His explanation about the cupboard he drew outside the house was “I saw this cupboard ….in the house”, and this makes us think that he remembers more easily when he relates an object with something in reality which he is familiar with. This approach is referred to as analogical[1] approach. Concerning the dog in the picture of E2, which he explained as “wolf fighting dog”, it can be said that he got this from the fiction (The theme of fight is one of the themes in the fiction) which was initially presented to the children about life in the mansion.
Internal meaning analysis
E2, who displays features of ‘Before Scheme Period’ (ages 4 to 7) drew many objects which are in the museum outside the mansion in his picture (Picture 2). For instance, he drew the inner stair case of the museum as if it were outside.
In this way, E2 wanted to reflect all he knew about the place, even those which are impossible to see in his picture. In the Before Scheme period, transparent pictures known as “transparent or roentgen” drawing flourish with such pictures drawn by pictures (Yavuzer, 2009, p.46). This case “is related to the fact that the child could not reach visual realism. The child has not reached the opinion that objects can be seen differently under different conditions….for [T] his reason, about a house the child shows all together the outer appearance of the house, its inside, rooms, objects and people” (Batı, 2012, p.59). The chain watch being on the air in E2’s picture reveals the feature of height hierarchy observed at this age group.
E2 placed the objects on a floor. The floor line was meaningfully drawn in detail. PaÅŸa Dede was drawn as a stickman sitting on the couch with a fez on his head (Source 1). This drawing is in compliance with what is on display in the museum and with historical context. Although E2 is 52 month old, he formulated an important order in spatial relations in his pictures which are similar to that of children of ages 7 to 9 in Schematic Stage. The child sees that all beings and objects in space are related to one another. This case is a level that develops when the child interacts with the society and when he realizes that he is a part of that environment (Yavuzer, 2009: 45).
It was observed in E3’ picture, (considering Sources 1 and 2), that he both benefitted from historical sources and entered into a fictionalizing process interwoven with historical reality and daily life in an analogical approach based on his world of imagination.
[1]Analogies are useful cognitive structures carried out by likening the unknown to the more known of two unidentical concepts which are not known well or used to ease the understanding of abstract concepts (DurmuÅŸ, 2013).
Results of E3’s picture about its definitional, personal and internal meaning
Definitional meaning analysis
It is quite hard to understand what the drawn figures and objects exactly are without explanations from E3. Considering the illustration, it is observed that the size of the objects do not correlate to the size of the place in the picture. The objects were placed on the page without the concepts of place and size. The only figure that can be easily understood is a stickman with a fez on his head (Picture 3).
Personal meaning analysis
In our interview with E3, the contents of the drawing were: PaÅŸa Dede, smoking, his gun, bomb, exploding bomb, blue car (objects in the sky); sea, gun, me (E3) and Duru (two stickmen), my heart, plane, and rabbit (objects below the sky); and exploded fish, flying fish (objects on the ground).
Internal meaning analysis
The picture is an example of imaginary drawing in which there is no spatial concept, objects and figures are flying everywhere, different colours are used, and emotions are dominant. Some details, which are important to him, were drawn bigger and a hierarchical structure was formed (Picture 3). For instance, in “PaÅŸa Dede”, “my heart”, E3 tries to express his fondness of (K3) the opposite sex by drawing a heart above them, he uses allegory[1] to tell his abstract feelings in a concrete way. Heart symbolizes the concept of “love and happiness”. Symbolic expressions are associated with metaphoric expressions and are mostly evaluated as the indicator of abstract thinking (Türkcan, 2013). E3, a 67 month old, displays the drawing features of a child age five which belongs to the Before Schematic Stage (ages 4 to 7). “Most of the 5 years old children drew a head on a body. On the head, there are eyes, a nose and a mouth. Arms and legs are also extended from the body. Generally, the faces are drawn with their frontal appearance and have no expression” (Yavuzer, 2009: 42). In spite of these, Lowenfeld found this kind of drawing as the drawing of a four-year old, who is just passing from Doodling Period to Before Schematic Stage in his researches. The doodles made by E3 can be likened to some objects by the researchers. Yet, there is no consistency in these drawings and doodles. In many drawings that can be classified to belong to the Doodling Period (ages 2 to 4), an object drawn as a house previously may later be defined as a car (Batı, 2012: 30).
[1] Allegory is a name given to a part or work in which an issue or thought are envisaged and told through several metaphors (Kotan and Kaya, 2010).
However, E3’s drawing of a fez on PaÅŸa Dede’s head shows that he had a stable imagination of the past by taking advantage of the fez of PaÅŸa Dede he saw in the museum. This indicates that E3 was able to perceive that PaÅŸa Dede’s mode of dressing then is different from how people dress today. The fact that E3 drew PaÅŸa Dede smoking in his picture, and that he drew the hooka he saw in the museum as a cigarette show a limited imagination experience about the past (Source 1).
E3’s explanation and effort at making sense of what he drew (of each object in the picture) shows that they are the reflection of his experiences. In this case, it can be suggested that the pictures of E3 are anachronic[1]; partly historical and partly about his experiences of today.
Results of K1’s picture about its definitional, personal and internal meaning
Definitional meaning analysis
In K1’s picture, the women who are partly similar to palace girls had their heads covered but wore contemporary clothings (Picture 4).
Personal meaning analysis
In the interview with her, K1 explained that she drew a mother with a baby in her arms and drew the cradle of the baby she also drew another mother who was plaiting her daughter’s hair. Considering her statements “mother plaiting her daughter’s hair” and “mother cradling her baby” (Picture 4). K1 is said to have drawn her picture with inspiration from the diaroam she saw in the museum (Source 3). She was asked a question why she drew the star on the clothes of the second woman in the middle, she replied “just because it will be beautiful. I would have drawn something else but I forgot”. When she was asked why she drew the shoes of women with heels, she explained thus: “I saw it in a documentary. Her high-heel shoe stumbled on a stone. Then plaster was applied and she never wore high heel shoes again”. When the previous experiences of the researcher with K1were considered, these experiences show that TV programs (cartoons and programs for children) influence K1’s cognitive development, even though partly, and that they played an important role in her perception and shaping of gender awareness.
Internal meaning analysis
K1’s use of red colour in her drawings is a characteristic of the Before Scheme Period (ages 4 to 7). The schemes and figures of the women in the picture are repetitive and this reflects the distinctive feature of Schematic Stage (ages 7 to 9). The female figures K1 drew and the details of their clothes indicate that she clearly realizes the distinction of “gender”.
[1]The term anachronism is defined as “delusion on the date or era of an event, or mingling dates and eras”. This case generally appears in a way of thinking or reflecting as if there was a historical phenomenon in a period when there is none (Öztürk, 2011).
The transparency feature seen in the pictures of children in Before Scheme period (4 to 7ages) was indicated by a “Comb” in K1’s picture (Picture 4). Thus, the objects and figures in K1’s picture contain characteristics of two periods. Another detail in K1’s drawing is an arrow she drew on the cradle. When asked about it, her reason for drawing the arrows was that “the cradle is swaying’’. K1 tried to show the real movement of the object by drawing arrows indicating both sides in her picture. The arrows K1 drew are the important indicators of symbolic period. According to Bruner, In this period, which he described as the top level of cognitive development, he posits that the child can explain objects and cases which she/he can’t explain with actions and images by using the symbols of the fields such as language, logic, mathematics, music, etc. (SenemoÄŸlu, 2002).
Considering the details of the picture (Picture 4), many details of the character clothing’s are sourced from what K1 perceives around her contemporary environment, and not from the historical context; except for the tasselled head cover, swinging cradle, and the boxwood (comb) on the woman’s hand. However, children carry the historical knowledge they gained from TV programs, documentaries, family etc. to the learning environment (Dilek, 2009).
Results of K2’s picture about its definitional, personal and internal meaning
Definitional meaning analysis
From the picture (Picture 5), it is observed that K2 drew a man with long arms. The child seems to have drawn bigger and at the most visible part of the drawing the person she saw in the museum and she found important.
It is quite hard to say what the other drawn objects in the picture are.
Personal meaning analysis
K2 stated that she drew the son of PaÅŸa Dede, a table and a chair.
Internal meaning analysis
The figures and objects in K2’s drawing exhibit characteristics of Before Scheme Period (ages 4 to 7) were formed by using two different colours without placing on spatial location. Body ratios are unrealistic (Picture 5). At this stage, children use in their drawings the colors they like. In their drawings the body proportions are without ratio in terms of shape and size (Yavuzer, 2009).
When the figures and objects K2 drew are examined in terms of historical context, it is observed that she drew long arms wearing shirt, short legs wearing pants, hair on the head, and the objects of table and chair based on what she saw in the museum (Source 4). K2 tried to draw PaÅŸa Dede’s son with the figure she drew standing; she drew the floor, with the table on it, and drew the sofa with the chair. K2 constructed the past on her perception of today. K2’s drawings make us think, through analogical deduction, that she employed an approach of combining the knowledge of her own living conditions and those of the people in the past (Dilek, 2009). It was observed that K2 created an imagination which included the daily empathy concept which Lee, Dickinson and Ashby proposed as the result of their research. In other words, K2 regarded the past with today’s values and viewpoints through “Stone Age Syndrome” (KarabaÄŸ, 2014).
Results of K3’s picture about its definitional, personal and internal meaning
Definitional meaning analysis
It is observed in K3’s picture that she drew PaÅŸa Dede parallel to the museum trip (Source 1, Source 3). A mother with her baby in her arms, an object similar to walking stick and two objects which are difficult to identify, are other details that can be seen in the Picture 6.
Personal meaning analysis
K3 stated during the interview that she drew fake hair, bed, cigarette, a mother with her baby in her arms, and PaÅŸa Dede from left to right.
Internal meaning analysis
It was observed that the figures and objects K3 drew are in conformity with their originals points (Picture 6), and the Schematic Stage (ages 7 to 9). In this period, “the colours of objects are not original and are generally used randomly or according to the preference of the individual” (Batı, 2012). The red tan colour which K3 used to paint the woman figure, her head scarf and shoes, and red doodling have these characteristics. In terms of colour preference, as is seen from the PaÅŸa Dede illustration, the jupe, the panthlets and the hookah were coloured dark (brown) similar to original (black) but the fez was coloured as original colour. This colour preference chosen is appropriate for the original included the features of The Birth of Reality Stage (ages 9 to 11).
K3 defined one of the objects she drew as fake hair. The explanation of fake hair suggests the possibility that she had never seen such kind of a head scarf before, or she could not understand what the head scarf was. K3 stated that another object she drew was a cigarette. She tried to relate the hookah she saw in the museum with cigarette and to give it a meaning. Here, it can be said that K3 made an analogy. This case indicates that the hookah in the museum was perceived by the child (Source 1). In the work of K3, each basic detail is included among historical objects and dioramas displayed in the museum. But, these materials were drawn in an order separate from one another. Each figure and object was coloured. “The experts having studied on colour concluded that girls give more importance to colour choice than boys” (Yavuzer, 2009, p.58). It can be said that the mother’s head scarf and the details in her clothing do not correlate with historical context. Yet, it can be explained that K3 has more experience about what the contemporary women wear. Despite this, all details about PaÅŸa Dede (Source 1) such as his fez, shirt, beard, and moustache, in short, his outer appearance, show that a stable imagination was put to work in order to appropriately display and fictionalize historical reality.
DISCUSSION
The aim of this study was to reveal how pre-school children fictionalize the past by using their imagination skills in the historical thinking process with a museum tour. This study aims to reveal the abilities of pre-school children to fictionalize the past in accordance with historical imagination and context with the pictures they drew through medium of a museum trip. In this context, attempts have been made to determine the factors affecting the children’s ability of historical.
The historical imagination and talents of children whose drawing samples were examined showed traces of top artistic development stages independent of age, and differ from one another. According to the results of the study, the historical imagination skills varied in children in whose drawing samples encountered traces of top artistic development stages independent of age.
The children who were able to see better how the people lived and dressed at different times and in different places with a successful empathy were able to use the height hierarchy feature in their drawings of historical figure by making some of the objects bigger and more detailed than other objects. The children who used this characteristic were observed to be more successful in utilizing stable imagination. They were able to include details in compliance with historical context. On the other hand, the fact that in their drawings, historical objects were drawn with changes in the concept without a completion in the imagination process showed that they got far away from the historical reality that they encountered some problems in utilizing their imagination. For instance, because they have a contemporary impression of what women daily, this prior knowledge interfered with their imagination and reflected in the historical interpretation of their drawings. It was observed that the knowledge that women wore different clothes in the past was not recognised. However, while drawing the historical battle instruments and objects, they saw in the museum, boys were observed to have drawn many elements anachronically depending on what they see today without partly completing stable imagination process. This case overlaps Luguet’s idea that “children draw not what they see but what they know” (Dilek and Yapıcı, 2005, p.18). On the other hand, one of the girls was observed to have fictionalized all details of Pasa Dede, of whom she had less experience, his complete outer appearance (fez, shirt, jupe, beard, and moustache), with a successful historical empathy in conformity with reality.
In the research, in the event that the child is behind the artistic development stage he/she ought to be, such child was observed to have difficulty in using his/her motor skills and in reflecting what he/she perceived. It was concluded that the child’s effort to draw the whole image he/she saw with a developed perception to suit the historical context, while he/she did not include the details because of his/her skill deficit in drawing prevents his/her historical imagination talent from emerging adequately. It is understood that such pictures have anachronic characteristics which complies partly with historical context which when compared to the child’s experiences of today tend to move away from historical context in their imagination. On the contrary, the child’s explanation of what he/she has drawn indicates that the picture is a reflection of experiences. However, Batı (2012) came to the conclusion in his research that the differences in the drawings show the perceptional development of the children.
When the pictures of pre-school children were examined based on the results of the research, their historical imagination skills were observed to develop in compliance with individual and general artistic development stage which Lowenfeld determined. It was observed that detailed imagination in children develops with age as the children evolve from undetailed drawing of figures and objects to detailed drawing, and from arbitrary colouring to colouring in conformity with the original. However, Yavuzer (2009: 11) emphasizes that “children’s pictures are an indicator of mental development”, while Duman (2006) concluded in his work that mental development reflects on the child’s artistic development (Türkcan, 2013). The drawings of the children at this age group are suitable for historical context. Children’s advanced artistic development stages; their open interests and perceptions; their ability to think analogically; partly the factor of gender; their hierarchical thinking; immediate environments, family, friends, relatives, and trips to surroundings and museums can be said to contribute to the fact that stable imagination is set to work in the drawings of the children at this age. Vygotsky’s opinion that the environmental factors and socialization process are important in the development of language, concept, and thinking in children (SenemoÄŸlu, 2002).
The children’s low artistic development stages, the changing of concepts and anachronological thinking may be suggested to be the reasons that make children fail to fictionalize a historical imagination. As a result, showing the historical object without being completed in the imagination process, means a derail from historical reality in some respects.” (Dilek, 2009: 658). Most of the children’s first learning of history happens in environments such as: school, with family, and through trips to museums/ historical places, discussions with peers and media as opposed to the intervals in imagination process of children and in breaking off from historical context (Barton, 2004; Aktın and Dilek, 2014). In this case, it can be suggested that visual communication means and produces a positive effect in inducing the imagination. This is because; a successful historical imagination is important to the presentation of an object and/or a figure. Graff (1999) as well, suggested that there can be better historical understanding if historical imagination is encouraged; and he stated that “visual materials such as picture, photograph, documentaries, and historical films play an important role in feeding historical imagination” (Yapıcı, 2006: 45). Cengiz (2001) supporting the opinions of Graff, found out that the children who drew by looking at ready materials are more successful in perspective and proportion than those who drew spontaneously. According to Egan (1982), it is necessary to take advantage of daily life experiences in developing children’s historical understanding at pre-school period. In the meanwhile, he proposes presenting the basic concepts they know with new contexts to children for them to develop strong meanings and imaginations. However, the objects which are the primary sources in history give us strong and concrete evidence in reaching the people in the past. According to Fines and Nichol (1997), they give us an idea about the environment that the ones who made and used them lived, their socio-cultural conditions, their purposes of usage and thoughts (Dilek, 2009: 658). Hayek, in his/her study named “Priority of the Abstract”, claims that the people who don’t have enough concrete experiences to relate abstract cases with their daily lives can make the abstract relations more easily (Dilek and SoÄŸucaklı-Yapıcı, 2005: 18).
Depending on the results of the research, the parents and preschool teachers should take little children to museums and historical places more often at this period to develop their historical understanding. While introducing historical objects and figures to children, they should present them by making analogical connections with the objects and figures they know. At this step they should enable the children to touch historical objects and figures so that they can correctly know and perceive historical objects. They should organize activities in the ateliers where they can see and draw historical objects, make clay works and paint them. The infrastructure studies should absolutely be carried out in museums. In the activity, children should be helped to draw bigger certain historical figures and objects in more detail. In this way, it can be possible to enable children to complete the imagination process of a historical object. It shouldn’t be forgotten that historical understanding of little children can be improved by encouraging their historical imagination.
CONFLICT OF INTERESTS
The author has not declared any conflicts of interests.
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