Relationship of Music Ability and Intelligence to Auditory and Visual Conservation of the Kindergarten Child

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship of music ability and intelligence to auditory and visual conservation of the kindergarten child. Observations took place in two kindergartens with a total sample of 34 children. The Simons Measurements of Music Listening Skills (SMMLS) was used to determine the child's music ability; the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) tested the child's verbal intelligence. Two criterion tests, the Musical Tasks Test and the Piagetian Tasks Test, were used to measure the child's auditory and visual conservation abilities. Results revealed no significant relationship between auditory and visual conservation. The observed correlation between verbal intelligence and visual conservation, as measured by the PPVT and the Piagetian Tasks Test, was nonsignificant. Music ability was significantly related to auditory conservation. The total regression model, which included variables of music ability, intelligence, and the interaction of music ability/intelligence, was able to predict auditory conservation at the .075 level of significance. Data suggested that educators should not assume that visual conservers are auditory conservers. Data also suggested that children's music ability is a strong indication of their ability to solve auditory conservation tasks.

Keywords

achievement tests audiovisual ability aural discrimination concept teaching musical ability psychomotor ability

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