Classroom keyboard instruction improves kindergarten children's spatial-temporal performance: A field experiment

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of classroom music i nstruction featuring the keyboard on the spatial-temporal reasoning of kind ergarten children. Sixty-two kindergartners were assigned to one of two con ditions, keyboard or no music. All children were pretested with two spatial -temporal tasks and one pictorial memory task. The keyboard group was provi ded with 20-min lessons two times per week in groups of approximately 10 ch ildren. Children were then retested at two 4-month intervals. The keyboard group scored significantly higher than the no music group on both spatial-t emporal tasks after 4 months of lessons, a difference that was greater in m agnitude after 8 months of lessons. Pictorial memory did not differ for the two groups after the lessons. These data support studies that found simila r skills enhancements in preschool children, despite vast differences in th e setting in which the instruction occurred. The results have strong implic ations for school administrators and educators.