2. Procedure 1) Research The scene description test after reading was applied to both the Japanese and French males and famales at the ages of 6 throu

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1 Franco - Japanese Comparative Studies on the Development of Space Cognition as Observed in Drawings: Configuration Expressions Based on Cubes and Rectangular Parallelepipeds Shinji KURITA 1. Objective The development of space cognition ability of a child derives from its natural dynamic characteristic, and there is a view that the degree of such natural dynamic characteristic of a child can affect its receptivity of the education to some extent but not to a great extent. According to this view,the education concerning the space cognition included in the subjects of mathematics, drawing and manual arts commonly taught at schools is not closely correlated with the acquisition of (the ability) to represent the space but (the ability of) each child develops by itself regardless of the quality and the quantity of the education it receives at school. On the other hand, there is a view that the points of change in the developmental stage of the picture drawing ability of the children in general tend to come earlier than before through gradually. According to this view, it cannot be denied that this tendency is affected by the change in the cultural variables such as the education with the transition of the age. The object of this research is to study the effects of the environmental conditions and the content of the education (the factors of formative arts, culture and the content of education) on the children through the comparison of the picture drawing abilities (the scene description test after reading the given story) of the French and Japanese males and famales at the ages of 6 to 20 where both the system and the content of education differ from each other. The country for the comparison may not necessarily be France,but France is chosen due to the reason that the given conditions in France are superior to those in Japan to be compared. The cultural background of Japan differs from that of France, but these two countries are very similar in the living standard of the people, and so many comparisons have been made by now as to various things. For this reason, it is relatively easy for the Japanese and French children to be compared with each other in terms of the effects of the cultural variables such as the environmental and educational conditions on their levels of knowledge. This report is concerned with the result of the study conducted by the art division group of the Franco-Japanese Joint Study Project on Space Cognition.

2 2. Procedure 1) Research The scene description test after reading was applied to both the Japanese and French males and famales at the ages of 6 through 20 totaling 3,000 in number (Those who have not received any specialized education for the fine arts). The scence description test comprises the development level test designed for examining the degree of the mental maturity of a person, which was developed by Goodenough (the developer of the Draw-A-Man Test) and Harris, the projection method designed to examine the characteristic tendency and the unconscious complication in a person, which was developed by Machover (DAP), Buck (HTP), Hammer, Kock (Baum Test) and Bender (Bender-Gestalt Test) and the combination of these tests developed by Koppitz (HFD), but the test employed for this study considered to fall under the category of the third test (the test for composite analysis). In the scene description test employed in this study, the subjects of the test were required to describe the scene of what they have read after reading on a piece of A5-size paper (either longitudinally or Laterally) using the pencils or black-ink pens. The sentence used for the test reads as "There is a tree-lined street. A house is near the street, and the smoke is emitted from the chimney of the house. Children are playing in room of the house. Other children are playing ping-pong in the front yard of the house." Each subject of the test is required to put down only its sex, age and the hand more skillful than the other. The time given for each subject for the test was 20 minutes. The test was given by the teachers other than art and design teachers immediately after the summer vacation in both France and Japan. On France side, the sample data was collected in cooperation with Bernard Darras, the deviser of this test, of the Normal School attached to the University of Paris. 2) Analysis The distribution of the subjects by the ages was not uniform, and so 50 males and 50 famales by ages were sampled at random respectively, and the data concerning these age groups were used as the basic data. This report is concerned with the data of the subjects whose ages range from 7 through 14 totaling 1,600 persons in number for which the basic data were complete. The result of the test is now being analyzed as to the relative positions of the objects described on the test paper, the central subject, the description of the figure, the perspective representation, X-ray image, the base line, the expression by development figure, the upsidedown expression and the onomatopoeia, but, here, the result of the analysis of the data concerning the house and the ping-pong table will be reported. The story to be read by each subject of the test contains several things (the tree-lined

3 street, house, ping-pong table and figure) to be used for the analysis of (the result of the test) in consideration of its relationship with the content of the education. Of these things, the house and the ping-pong table have a common characteristic. For example, the ping-pong table suggests some specific form. More particularly, there is no such a thing as the round ping-pong table. That is, a ping-pong table suggests a typical form of the table consists of a rectangular top board and four legs of uniform length. On the other hand, the ping-pong table also includes a basic form obtainable by removing the sides from a rectangular parallelepiped. The forms of actual houses, however, vary greatly from the house to house. In the case of the problem of this test requiring the solver of the problem to draw an illustration within quite a short period of time, however, it may be considered that the houses have a certain common form. That is, the form consisting of a cube or a rectangular parallelepiped topped with a quadrangular pyramid or a triangular pyramid, which is also a form comprising the basic forms of the cube or the rectangular parallelepiped. For the analysis, the forms described as representing these two objects by the subjects of the test are classified into the 7 categories. namely type A: no description, type B: description as the top view, type C: description as the side view, Type D: description as the developed view, type E: description as the projection view, type F: description as the perspective view and type G: description in other types of view, and the distribution of these types are compared by age groups. In paralled with the analyses of the descriptions of the house and the ping-pong table, the contents of the educations concerning the cube and the rectangular parallelepiped in various schools in France and Japan were compared. More particularly, the contents and the illustrations of the textbooks dealing with the cube and the rectangular parallelepiped in France and Japan were compared. 3. Result Table 1 and Fig.1 respectively show the distributions of the forms of the ping-pong table described by the French and Japanese subjects of the test. Table 2 and Fig.2 respectively show the distribution of the forms of the ping-pong table described by the Japanese subjects of the test. Table 3 and Fig.3 respectively show the distribution of the forms of the house described by the French subjects of the test. Table 4 and Fig.4 respectively show the distribution of the forms of the house described by the Japanese subjects of the test. Table 5 and Fig.5 respectively show the numbers (%) of the French subjects who described both the ping-pong table and the house using the similar description methods. Table 6 and Fig.6 respectively show the numbers (%) of the Japanese subjects who described both the ping-pong table and the house using the similar description method. The reason why the number (%) of subjects who described

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8 the ping-pong table and the house in the similar method of description was picked out as an object of the analysis derives from the presumption that those subjects who described two different objects metaphorically representing the cube or the rectangular parallelepiped respectively on a sheet of paper suggests that the personal preferences of the individual subjects were strongly reflected on the form of the description taken at the time of the description. Table 7 shows the types of the description used by the French subjects in describing their own ping-pong tables. Table 8 shows the classified descriptions of the ping-pong tables by the Japanese subjects. Table 9 shows the classified descriptions of the house by the French subjects. Table 10 shows the same by the Japanese subjects. In classifying the individual descriptions into 7 categories, the individual classifications are not always coincide with the previously classified types of descriptions (ex.type C: description as the side view, type D: description as the developed view,...). In this test, the importance was attached to the comparison of the data of the French subjects and those of the Japanese subjects, so that such minor disagreement may be disregarded as far as the descriptions by the French and Japanese subjects are classified by the similar bases. 4. Discussion of Results According to Tables 1 and 2, in the cases of the French subjects whose ages ranging from 7 to 14, the descriptions falling under the category of the type C: description as the side view are predominant for the description of the ping-pong table, whereas,in the cases of the Japanese subjects, the descriptions falling under the category of type E: description as the perspective view are predominant. For other types of description, there is no substantial difference between those of the Japanese subjects and those of the French subjects except that the ratio of "No description" is relatively larger compared with the French subjects. According to Fig.1 showing the distribution of the descriptions of the ping-pong table by the French subjects, the descriptions falling under the category of the type C decrease as the ages of the subjects increase, whereas the ratio of the type E increases as the ages of the subjects increase. Concerning the descriptions within the category of type D, its ratio tends to decrease in the cases of the descriptions by the subjects whose ages are around 12 and higher, and no significant disparities were observed as to the ratios of other types of descriptions. On the other hand, in the cases of the Japanese subjects, according to Fig.2 showing the distribution of the descriptions of the ping-pong table, the rations of the type B: description as the top view, type C: description as the side view and type D: description as the developed view decrease as the ages of the subjects increase, and only the ratio of the descriptions by type E: description as the projected view is conspicuous. According to Tables 3 and 4 showing the tendencies of the descriptions of the house,

9 in the cases of both the French and Japanese subjects at the ages of 7 through 14, among the modes of descriptions classified by the types of descriptions by the total number of each, the type characterized by the description as the side view is predominant, though, in the cases of the Japanese subjects, the ratio of the description as the projected view is also conspicuous than others. Figs.3 and 4 show similar graphic data. In the cases of both the French and Japanese subjects, the ratio of the description as the side view falling under the category of type C decreases as the ages of the subjects increase, whereas the ratio of the description as the projected view falling under the category of the type E increases instead, but no significant disparities were observed as to other types. According to Tables 5 and 6, similarly to the case of the description of the ping-pong table, the mode of description by the French subjects is within the category of the type C for the side view, whereas the mode of the description by the Japanese subjects is within the category of the type E for the projected view. The similar tendencies are observed in the Figs.5 and 6 too. More particularly, the description of type C for the side view decreases, whereas the description of the type E for the projected view increases.in the cases of the Japanese subjects, it should be noted that the increase ratio of the description as the projected view is conspicuous. For instance, in the cases of the (Japanese) subjects at the ages of 14, almost a half of them used the projection method in describing both the house and the ping-pong table. No marked disparities by the age groups were observed, however, as to other methods of description. It was clarified that there are common tendencies among the young people of France and Japan by age groups in describing the ping-pong table and the house by analyzing the result of the test. That is, the description as the side view tends to decrease (as the ages of the subjects increase), whereas the description as the projected view tends to increase. No significant variations by the age groups were not observed as to other types of description, however. The tendencies by the age groups, however, shows not only the common factors but also the differences. Fig.7 show the ratios of the ping-pong table and the house described as the side view and the projected view by both the French and Japanese subjects. Fig.8 shows the ratios of the ping-pong table and the house described as the projected views by both the French and Japanese subjects. According to this diagram, there is no significant difference in the tendency by the age of the subjects as far as the 7-year-old group is concerned, but, for the other age groups, the ratio of the Japanese subjects using the side view method tends to decrease as the ages of the subjects increase, whereas the ratio of the descriptions using the projection method increase, and such tendencies of the Japanese subjects, that is, the decrease in the ratio of the side view and the increase in the ratio of the projected view, becomes apparent

10 about 2 years earlier than those of the French subjects. Such difference can be considered to derive from the difference in the educational and cultural background between France and Japan. The result concerning the description of the figures, which is not directly related with the method of description, was also analyzed and compared, but no significant difference was observed (see Note 1). Thus, it can be presumed that the Japanese children have been strongly influenced by the education of the drawing by the projection method and the visual environmental conditions in Japan. More particularly, the above-mentioned difference in the tendency between the French children and the Japanese children can be considered attributable to that the Japanese children have been exposed more frequently to the visual information concerning. the cube, rectangular parallelepiped and related drawing method through their mathematical education than the French children. For example, in Japan, the mathematic textbook for the second-year children of the elementary school includes "How to make boxes", the same for the fourth-year children includes "Cube and Rectangular parallelepiped" and the same for the fifth-year children includes "Cubic- volume", and these textbooks also include the education information concerning many oblique projections. Besides, the geometric education in Japan is mainly based on the text books including the exercises of copying the diagrams in the textbook onto the notebooks, whereas, in France, the content of the textbooks are not defined legally nor is the use of the textbooks mandatory, though they are compiled conforming to the programs set up by the government, and the teaching in the classroom is mainly based on the textbooks (see Note 2). Thus, it seems possible for us to prove the aforesaid presumption by comparing the mathematical educations in France and Japan as to the method, content and timing of the teaching. In this report, the content of the discussion is confined to the description of the pingpong table and the house. Since these things are single bodies resulting from the continuous relationship among various things, it is important for us to analyze the result of this test in relation with the results of the analyses of other various things. (Yamanashi University) Note: 1) Kazuhiro Isizaki, A Report of the Art Division Group(3) (Tukuba: Franco-Japanese collaborative Research Meeting on Processes of Learning of the Space and Geometry, 1989) pp ) The Japan Textbook Research Center, Kaigai Kyokasho Jijo Chosa-dan Hokokusho [A Report of the Fact-finding Committee on Foreign Textbook Situation] (Tokyo: The Japan Textbook Research Center, 1990) p.50.