| So how do you get 4-year-olds to cooperate? It may be as simple as starting a sing-a-long. German researchers recently published a study that says singing together may inspire spontaneous cooperation and helpful behavior. And couldn’t all our families use a little more of that?! In the study, a group of 96 four-year-olds were split into pairs and given toys to play with. Half of the groups were taught a song to sing as they played, and the other half had no musical accompaniment. After this play time, the kids were all given tubes of marbles, some of which were rigged to immediately spill when they were lifted. The children who had been singing together were far more likely to help their new friends pick up marbles than those who had not. The children then were given a task which could be solved either individually or through cooperative action. Again, the children who had been in the first musical group were more likely to work together to solve a problem than the ones who had not. Overall, girls were more likely to be cooperative and helpful than boys, but the levels of both traits were increased in both genders if they had participated in the music making. In all, the shared act of singing and dancing strengthened the sense of community in children - even more evidence to support the idea that music really does bring people together. Link to the full story: http://www.miller-mccune.com/culture/do-re-mi-promotes-a-feeling-of-we-19058 Shared by Miss Cathy who loves to witness the cooperation in her classes as we all sing and giggle together. |
| Last Updated on Thursday, 12 August 2010 02:27 |
| Harmonizing Breeds Harmony |
Written by Cathy Huser
Thursday, 12 August 2010 02:19