Quantitative Analysis and Visualization of Children’s Group Behavior from the Perspective of Development of Spontaneity and Sociality

Abstract

Spontaneity, which is an attitude of voluntarily participating in activities, and sociality, which is the tendency to interact with others and to keep good relationships with others, are developed during childhood and are the fundamental attitudes in social life. To investigate the development of spontaneity and sociality, several researchers have used Learning Stories, in which on-site observers elaborately describe behaviors of each child. However, Learning Stories would need too much labor cost for monitoring and qualitatively evaluating many children. This study proposed a new method of quantitative analysis and visualization to evaluate children’s group behavior related to both spontaneity and sociality during eurhythmics, in which children move in tune with music. It used position data of children for the analysis and visualization. The results showed that children in the 6-year-old class got to work closely with other children in a short time compared to those in the 5-year-old class. Such group behavior would include the actions to spontaneously make a good relationship with others. We hope that this study will be meaningful in creating practical and useful curricula and support methods for children at nurseries.