A Musical Play Intervention as a Vehicle for Improving Young Children's Metacognition and Self-Regulation

• In Event: Conceptions of Play in Early Childhood Classrooms

Abstract

Self-regulation and metacognition are important for lifelong functioning and can be strengthened with intervention. Research proposes that musical play enables self-regulatory development. We introduced a musical play intervention and examine its impact on self-regulation and metacognition. We adopted a quasi-experimental, pre-test and post-test control-group design, with 150 6-year-old participants. Children’s self-regulation and metacognition were assessed before and after the intervention. The intervention group (N=50) participated in 15 musical play sessions, control Group A had 15 music lessons following the usual curriculum, while Control group B had 7 lessons. We hypothesise that the experimental group will show a steeper increase in self-regulation than controls. Results will be ready by September 2019. This study can inform practice, policy and the extant literature.

Authors

• Antonia Zachariou, Roehampton University

• Arielle Bonneville-Roussy, University of Roehampton

• David Hargreaves, Roehampton University