This article reports a quasi-experimental study of the effects of improvisation on the development of children's creative thinking in music. The study was conducted in a primary school classroom with two matched groups of 6-year-old children over a period of six months. The music lessons for the experimental group were enriched with a variety of…

Noticing and being able to manipulate the sounds of spoken language-phonological awareness-is highly related to later success in reading and spelling. The authors define and explain the levels of phonological awareness-syllable awareness, onset-rime awareness, phoneme awareness. They give teachers step-by-step instructions for implementing a…

Many grandparents play a significant role as educators and carers of children in the preschool years. Recently, this role has become the focus of much early childhood research as challenges facing grandparent carers and grandparent-headed households increasingly become an economic and social issue. Using survey data from China we explore the role…

Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference on the Teaching of Psychology: Ideas and Innovations, sponsored by the Psychology Department of Farmingdale State College. The conference theme for 2014 was:" Infusing Issues of Racial, Religious, and Sexuality Diversity Across the Undergraduate Curriculum." The Conference featured a keynote…

The authors explore priming effects of pitch repetition in music in 3 experiments. Musically untrained participants heard a short melody and sang the last pitch of the melody as quickly as possible. Each experiment manipulated (a) whether or not the tone to be sung (target) was heard earlier in the melody (primed) and (b) the prime-target distance…

It is common to encourage foreign-language learners to use their language outside the classroom and to read books and papers, listen to songs and watch films in the foreign language. One of the benefits which are thought to accrue from these activities is that learners can build good vocabularies. It has even been argued that casual exposure to…

In this column, the authors expand on the theme of learning to read and learning to love reading through reading. They explain that stories, or narratives, are important and perhaps are the main entry point for reading at home. However, the authors assert that learning to embrace reading means learning to embrace a wider palette of materials that…

This study was an ethnographic case study that investigated oral and written language learning in a first grade classroom in Kenya. The languages used in this classroom were Swahili and English only. Kamba the mother tongue of the majority of the children, was banned in the entire school. In this classroom there were 89 children with two teachers,…

This study draws on ethnographic data from a year-long multimodal media production (MMP) course and the experience of an African American female adolescent who used the production of multimodal Hip Hop texts to express her creativity and growing socially conscious view of the world. The study demonstrates how students made meaning multimodally and…

With a heavy dominance on its technical/empirical aspects, the segmented performance, pedagogy, and assessment of Western classical music is undermining its goal of creating art with precision, style, and expressive beauty. This segmentation has its roots in the quantitative assessment processes found in music education and in the note-perfect…

Learning to wash hands, go to the bathroom and other self-care skills are significant steps toward independence for young children. Each step toward independent self-care is a milestone that is expected and valued. However, for young children with autism such steps may not occur naturally. Research shows that songs can assist children with…

Humans have communicated through arts such as storytelling, music and dance throughout history, and have often used combinations of different art forms to express ideas. Just as traditional storytellers have done in many cultures through the ages, early childhood practitioners can use a variety of art forms when they share books and stories with…

Associating movement with specific musical concepts is a natural way for people to broaden their musical understanding. Kinesthetic exercises in the choral rehearsal strengthen vocal technique and musicianship skills and enhance artistic expression. This approach helps all types of learners because it focuses attention and promotes active…

While it is important for choral teachers to know about adolescent changing voice theories, being aware of the social and emotional effects surrounding this sensitive issue is equally relevant. Many young men just need support and advice on techniques from their teacher to feel comfortable continuing to sing. As part of her Choral Music Education…

The present study aimed to investigate the current music practices and teachers' needs for teaching music in public preschools of South Korea. The data were obtained from the public preschools in South Korea, where 66.7 percent (n = 606) of the total sample (N = 908) responded. The online survey consisted of 42 questions: Likert-type scales,…