He studies little kids’ hand smearing

George Peez [pictured here], Professor of Art Education at the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, studies many things, including the way young children use their hands to smear things, a process known to some as “drawing”:

“Phänomenologisch orientierte Fotoanalyse – ‘Schmieren‘ [Phenomenologically oriented photo analysis – “smearing”, the start of the children’s drawings], der weitgehend unerforschte Beginn der Kinderzeichnung,” Georg Peez, Photographs in educational case studies, Munich ( Kopaed Verlag ) 2006. The author explains [in German, but auto-translated here]:

” instead of the proposed by Hans-Günther Richter traditional method, the research on the “smearing” product and result-oriented align, ie “fingerprints on windows and furniture surfaces, spinach stains and their motor-tactile changes Breispuren or similar document” (Richter 5 1997, p 24), is in the present investigation exploring the processual nature of greasing in the foreground. The activity of greasing is investigated qualitatively and empirically using the example of a 9 1/2 month old girl.”

Here’s detail from the study:

A Heise news report further explains [also in German, also here auto-translated]:

“Children make the same movements as the touch screen user when they explore a porridge, a Frankfurt scientists has observed”