Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
33. World Conference of International Society for Music Education, Baku, Azerbaycan, 22 - 29 Temmuz 2018
The primary purpose of this research is to determine the effect of
piano-assisted music activities on the early mathematical reasoning skills of preschoolers. This research is an experimental study.
Experimental design with pre-test and post-test control group was
used.
Early mathematical reasoning skills were the dependent variable,
while the piano assisted music activities were the independent
variable. The "Early Mathematical Reasoning Ability Assessment
Tool", developed by Ergül in 2014, was used for the data collection.
The sub-dimensions of the tool are measurement-induction, measurement-deduction, data analysis and probability-induction, data
analysis and probability-deduction.
An eight-week program of piano-assisted music activity plans were
developed by the researcher for this study. The activity plans were
evaluated by music education, preschool education and childhood development specialists. Based on the specialists’ opinions,
the activities were planned for twice a week with a duration of 20
minutes. For the reliability of the research, an eight-week pilot instruction of the music activities was held for 25 preschoolers. In
the pilot study, it was found that the activities were more effective
on small groups. Therefore, the activities were decided to be done
by dividing the classroom into groups of 8 to 10 children. After the
pilot study, Ergül’s tool was applied as pre-test to the study group of
the research. The study group was two randomly selected preschool
classes from the schools in Ankara. The study group had 32 children, experimental and control groups were distributed evenly. The
trial was done in the spring semester of 2016-2017 academic year,
the piano assisted music activities were applied twice a week to the
experimental group, no action was taken for the control group.
After the trial period of eight weeks, Ergül’s tool was re-applied
as post-test to the study group. Outcomes were evaluated from
the statistical analyzes of the score means, standard deviations,
Mann-Whitney U Test and Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test.
In conclusion, it was found that the experiment group progressed
in all of the sub-dimensions. Based on these outcomes, the piano-assisted music activities are effective in preschoolers’ early
mathematical reasoning skills. Therefore, it is suggested that the
piano assisted music activities should be instructed by music teachers in order to support the development of the preschoolers’ early
mathemathical reasoning skills.