Using drawings to understand the causes of anger in young children

Abstract

This study is set out to explore and understand the causes of anger through drawings, narrative inquiries, observations, field notes and semi-structured interviews by young learners and their teachers. The aims of the study were: 1) to explore the reasons behind learner’s anger and subsequently create an awareness of learner’s inner experiences, as well as 2) to find out how teachers deal with anger and how it can be addressed in the school setting. Little research and knowledge exist within this field. By using young learner’s drawings, the researcher investigated the causes of anger in young learners and how anger was dealt with by these learners. It is established that young learners are more open to draw what they feel rather than verbally explaining their emotions. Therefore, this study wanted to get an in-depth understanding of learner’s emotions through the medium of drawing. A qualitative approach was followed where multiple case studies were used to collect the data. The data collection strategies for this research study comprised of drawings/pictures, narrative inquiries, observations, field notes and semi-structured interviews. The findings demonstrated that it is possible to determine how learners experience different situations that cause anger as well as how these situations are understood and handled by young learners. The findings further showed that there were distinct themes that emerged from the data. The four themes that emerged from the analysis of the data were the home environment, competence, experiences of anger and bullying.