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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 10, No. 5
Publication Date: May 25, 2023
DOI:10.14738/assrj.105.14721.
Fang, M., & Zhong, S. (2023) The Influence of Picture Book Teaching on Children’s Aesthetic Ability: The Mediating Role of Teachers’
Aesthetic Imagination Cognition. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(5).264-271.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
The Influence of Picture Book Teaching on Children’s Aesthetic
Ability: The Mediating Role of Teachers’ Aesthetic Imagination
Cognition
Mengyan Fang
School of Education, Jinlin International Studies University,
Changchun, China
Shuxian Zhong
School of Education, Northeast Normal University,
Changchun, China
ABSTRACT
Picture book teaching is one of the important ways to improve children’s aesthetic
ability. Teachers’ aesthetic cognition of picture book teaching is the prerequisite for
developing children’s aesthetic ability. This study aims to explore the current
situation of teachers’ cognition of children’s aesthetic ability in picture book
teaching and further examine the relationship between teachers’ cognition of
children’s aesthetic ability in various dimensions. The results found that teachers’
overall cognition of children’s aesthetic ability in picture book teaching is at a
moderately low level; teachers’ cognition of children’s aesthetic ability and its
various dimensions are significantly positively correlated; teachers’ cognition of
aesthetic creation can directly predict aesthetic ability cognition; teachers’
aesthetic imagination in picture book teaching has a mediating effect on aesthetic
creation and aesthetic ability. Teachers should improve their aesthetic quality, fully
explore the aesthetic resources of picture books, and promote the development of
children’s aesthetic abilities.
Keywords: Picture book teaching, Teachers’ aesthetic cognition, Children’s aesthetic
ability.
INTRODUCTION
Picture Book Teaching
Picture book teaching is an early reading activity that better promotes children’s development
by using picture book materials and giving full play to the role of picture books in various fields
Picture book teaching has a positive significance for the development of children’s aesthetic
abilities. Specifically, picture book teaching uses picture books as the carrier and aesthetic
imagery as the object. It is an aesthetic teaching activity promoting children’s aesthetic
perception, imagination, and creation. As an essential educational resource for children’s
aesthetic education, picture books have gradually entered kindergarten aesthetic education
activities [1]. Existing studies have found that aesthetic teaching is based on picture books.
However, the aesthetic value of picture books is widely valued by educators; in specific teaching
practice, preschool teachers still cannot interpret picture books based on children’s aesthetic
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Fang, M., & Zhong, S. (2023) The Influence of Picture Book Teaching on Children’s Aesthetic Ability: The Mediating Role of Teachers’ Aesthetic
Imagination Cognition. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(5).264-271.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.105.14721
psychology, such as digging deep into the formal beauty of picture books., content beauty, and
implication beauty [2]. Kindergarten picture book teaching is essential for promoting children’s
physical and mental development, which can effectively improve children’s aesthetic cognition,
stimulate children’s aesthetic imagination and promote children’s aesthetic creation [3].
However, in teaching picture books, teachers’ cognition of children’s aesthetic ability and the
exploration of aesthetic value need to be improved.
Children’s Aesthetic Ability
Children’s aesthetic ability is to know, experience, feel, and create aesthetic objects or aesthetic
images in aesthetic activities, a highly comprehensive psychological ability of children. Some
researchers divided aesthetic ability into five dimensions: aesthetic perception, aesthetic
understanding, aesthetic emotion, aesthetic imagination, and aesthetic creation. Among them,
aesthetic perception refers to the overall grasp of the complete image composed of the shape,
color, light, space, tension, and other elements of things; aesthetic imagination is the
imagination of completely transforming the various images of things in front of us driven by
inner emotions; aesthetic emotion. It is accompanied by perceptual activities and is regarded
by the subject as an objective property of the perceptual object: emotional expressiveness.
aesthetic understanding is the cognition of aesthetic objects’ symbolic meaning, subject matter,
and emotion [4]. Early childhood is a sensitive period for developing children’s aesthetic
psychology. It is also a critical period for the rapid development of children’s aesthetic ability,
which affects the establishment and development of children’s early personalities [5]. In
addition, picture book teaching is vital in developing early children’s aesthetic abilities.
Therefore, the development of aesthetic education based on picture book teaching at this stage
plays a vital role in establishing children’s aesthetic standards, cultivating aesthetic taste, and
shaping a good personality.
The Internal Mechanism of Picture Book Teaching to Promote the Development of
Children’s Aesthetic Abilities
In picture book teaching, teachers’ analysis and grasp of children’s aesthetic ability is the
prerequisite for the effective implementation of aesthetic education. Aesthetic education based
on picture book teaching can promote the development of children’s aesthetic abilities, such as
aesthetic perception, imagination, emotion, cognition, and creation [6].
Regarding aesthetic perception, teaching picture books is the process of children’s perception
of the pictures and texts in picture books. Children will pay full attention to and observe picture
books’ characters, colors, and lines. This process directly promotes the development of
children’s aesthetic perception; in terms of aesthetic imagination, Children process the content
conveyed by picture books according to the picture images and memories to form new story
images, which directly promotes aesthetic imagination [7]; in terms of aesthetic emotions, the
emotions in picture book teaching will subtly affect children’s hearts. Regarding aesthetic
understanding, different symbol elements in picture books are of great significance to
children’s aesthetic understanding [8]; in aesthetic creation, children will transform the brand- new aesthetic images in their minds into specific forms of material existence [9]. The teaching
of picture books can comprehensively promote the development of children’s aesthetic abilities,
and teachers need to explore the aesthetic value of picture books.