Comparative Study's by Felicity McArdle and Kit-Mei Wong

What young Children Day About
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What young children say about art: A comparative study?
The study has prompted the reasons as to why young children draw and paint. The research partially explored the ways children understand the art. Furthermore, it established out the main drive that makes children learn through the art and why they choose learning through it. The researcher collected the information needed through interviews with children of similar age from two different cultures. The first set of children was a group of 27 children from Hong Kong who were of age between 4-5 years. The other group consisted of 15 children who came from Brisbane. Both the two groups came from Australia. They were selected from different cultures since they would add another dimension to the thinking of the researcher. The Hong Kong population sample gave a full day program for children of the age 2-6 years of the art curriculum. The Brisbane group had visited the art gallery and had learned artwork in classrooms. They, therefore, had much to offer to the research in order to make it a success. The interviews were conducted using a phenomenography approach whereby the first group of respondents engaged in free choice activities. Children elaborated on their art, giving reasons as to why they were engaging in the works of art. Various questions concerning the art were later asked until it reached a point where children had nothing to talk about the topic. The process of recording data, utilized both audio and video recorders.
The Findings
The study established that four out of five responses were similar. The first response was different from the two groups of respondents. The four responses had the same content message despite that fact that slight variations could be noticed. These four discourses are discussed below:
1. Art is a natural activity
The two groups acknowledge the fact that the art is a natural activity. It is because no one taught them the works of art, but had initiated it by themselves. The common responses included; Martin mentioned that everyone likes doing art. They do artwork since it is an interesting activity. Therefore, they like engaging themselves in the artwork not because someone has asked them to do, but because they are born with it.
2. Art is regarded to be a task
The respondents insisted that they engaged in artwork because they have to. It is part of their lives. They are left with no other option but to do artwork. Art is part of the curriculum which proves that it is a compulsory exercise that needs to be undertaken. For example, Calvin, one of the respondents said that they do art because teachers teach them how to draw. Children perceive the works of art as an extrinsic exercise that motivates the learning process. The group from Hong Kong gave a response that the art was simply an activity and also was utilized as a transitional activity between learning. The respondents said that if they were given a chance to choose whether to do art or something else, then they would leave artwork.
3. The art is a process
The study also gave a response that the art was a process. This entailed other activities to be learned, especially social processes. Ch...