Children's Symbol Research Articles

Symbols in Children's Drawings as a Visual Communication Tool

Symbols are always present in communication, especially in communication through visual media in the form of children's drawings. Children's drawings are one of the media that can represent children's imagination, creativity, experience, and emotions that can be used as a medium for children's communication. Through children's drawings, we can see the messages they want to convey. This research aims to see that symbols in children's drawings can be used as a visual communication tool, so that the messages they make will be conveyed. The method used in this research is a descriptive method by analyzing data, namely observing symbols in children's drawings using a semiotic approach. The result of the research is that the symbols contained in children's drawings contain the meaning of happiness and cheerfulness, containing the message that a happy life is the desire and hope of children.
 Keywords: Children's drawings, Visual Communication, Semiotics, Symbols

Sufi Symbolism In Naguib Mahfouz’s Children of the Alley

Although about six decades have passed since it was first serialized in Al Ahram newspaper in 1959, Naguib Mahfouz’s Children of the Alley remains as controversial as it has always been. It has always been the target of criticism for its godless universe, yet it is very rich in its Sufi symbolism. Despite accusations of blasphemy against the novel, it is fraught with Sufi symbols. Sufi concepts such as divine adoration, hope, repentance, humility, knowledge, purification, nearness and distance, spiritual journey, recollection of God and hermitage are all evident in Children of the Alley. These concepts are analyzed in the light of the stories of Gabalawi, Adham, Gabal, Rifaa, Qassem and Arafa that are inherent in Sufism. Places in Children of the Alley are also imbued with Sufi significance such as Hind's Rock and the mansion at the top of the alley. As Mahfouz says that the allegories in his writings can be read in various ways depending on the reader, the current study claims to interpret the Sufi symbols in Children of the Alley.

The Cognitive Aspect Development of Matching Numbers Symbols in Children

The learning activity by using the picture and picture, make a matching model uses various goods near the children has an aim to increase the cognitive aspect development of B Group in the Anak Bangsa Marabahan Kindergarten, Marabahan sub-district, Barito Kuala District with 18 students which consist of 6 females and 12 males. The data was collected by observing the teacher, student’s activities, and the development of the study results. The result of this study shows that there are various enhancements in the cognitive aspect development in matching numbers with the number symbol through the combination model of Picture and Picture, Make a Match. The result of the teacher’s activity cycle 1 showed a score of 22, and in cycle IV it got a score of 41. Meanwhile, the students’ activity reached up to 50% in cycle 1 and reached 82.63% in cycle IV. The cognitive development result in cycle 1 reached 49.3%, and it reached 91.67% in cycle IV.

Mental Rotation of Pictures, Letters and Symbols in Children with Dyslexia: Evidence for Stimulus Type Effect

ABSTRACT We report the results of three tasks of two-dimensional pictures, letters and symbols mental rotation (MR) among 9–11 years aged Arabic readers with dyslexia, in order to examine a potential stimulus type effect on MR ability in terms of accuracy and speed. Results showed that readers with dyslexia (n = 32) performed significantly lower and were slower than typical readers (n = 44) in the three MR tasks. Furthermore, ‘group’ and ‘type of stimuli’ effects were obtained for accuracy and speed of MR implementation, indicating impaired visual spatial orientation processing in children with dyslexia. Furthermore, repeated measures of ANOVA showed that letter MR is significantly slower than pictures and symbols in dyslexic group but no difference in terms of accuracy. These results are interpreted as support for the notion of linguistic based mental rotation impairment in developmental dyslexia, without being restricted to orthographic material.

Moving Targets: The Effect of Animation on Identification of Action Word Representations

This study examined the conditions under which action representations – presented in both static and dynamic formats – were most readily identified. Preschoolers without disabilities selected graphics corresponding to a spoken word from a computerized four-choice array. Although pre-tests confirmed that the children had all of the stimulus words in their lexical repertoires, their demonstration of that knowledge when the stimuli were presented in graphical form was less robust. The children were generally more challenged by the static representations than the dynamic ones, and their performances were most accurate with the most realistic dynamic representations. A developmental effect was noted, as children's symbol identification became more accurate across the range of representational forms as they got older.

Action models and verbal descriptions in object representations given through gestures by preschool children.

Previous research suggests that young children have difficulty producing pantomimic gestures with imagined objects for which no substitute objects are presented. They frequently substitute specific body parts to represent the object through gestures involved in the action. This study examined whether adults' verbal descriptions or symbolic action models help to produce an imaginary-object gestural response. 53 children (26 4-yr.-olds, and 27 5-yr.-olds) performed gestural tasks in which they were asked to pretend to use common objects, e.g., "pretend to brush your teeth with a toothbrush." They were then given verbal descriptions or action models to perform those same tasks. Analysis indicated that providing verbal descriptions and action models helps to produce an imaginary-object response in 4- and 5-yr.-old children. Action models proved more effective than verbal descriptions among 4-yr.-old children. Results are discussed indicating that each verbal description and action model could be influenced by different mechanisms underlying preschool children's symbol production.

Another look at children's symbol reversals.

In a previously reported longitudinal study of reversal errors for static and kinetic written symbols we found no compelling support for their academic importance in kindergarten (n = 201), Grade 1 (n = 156), or Grade 2 (n = 129); however, for Grade 3 (n = 105), kinetic reversals became a significant predictor of tested reading achievement. If reliable, this finding might have implications for the identification of children with long-term reading impairment.

Developmental Trends and Relationships in Children's Aural Perception and Symbol Use

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among children's aural perception of tonal patterns and children's symbol use in drawing and selection tasks based on tonal information. Children's performances on perception, drawing, and selection tasks were investigated for developmental trends within and across tasks. Sixty-four children, ranging in age from 4 years, 7 months, to 12 years, 8 months, were tested for their performance on aural perception of tonal patterns (PMMA/IMMA), selection, and drawing tasks. A principal components analysis showed perception, selection, and drawing to load on one factor. When factor scores were examined for differences by age with a one-way ANOVA, age was shown to be a significant effect, F(3, 60) = 7.58, p < .001. Post-hoc comparisons showed that children at the youngest level differed significantly (p < .01) from those at the two older levels on the literacy factor, with scores on all tasks and factor score means revealing a linear trend in children's musical development of symbol use.

Young Children's Symbol Use

Young Children's Symbol Use