Date of Award
12-2019
Document Type
Action Research Project
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Education
Department
Education, Montessori
First Advisor
Syneva Barrett
Department/School
Montessori Early Childhood
Abstract
Children in an early childhood Montessori classroom were taught songs that included words to label emotions and phrases for solving social conflicts. The purpose of this research was to find out if children’s emotional vocabulary and problem-solving strategies would be affected by learning words and phrases from songs about feelings and communication for six weeks. Data was collected through comparing words known to describe emotions on faces of an emotion chart, phrases known to communicate feelings, and records of children’s behaviors and conflict resolution strategies both pre and post-intervention. The results showed an increase in both the amount of words and variety of words known, and an increase in independently attempting to problem solve, while non-verbal reactions to problems. such as crying and hitting, decreased. Songs were found to be an effective tool to use to teach children in early childhood about emotional literacy. Because songs are shown to be an effective way to communicate important messages, teachers could consider using them to teach about other sensitive information, such as about privacy and strangers
Recommended Citation
Feaver, Amy. (2019). The Effect of Songs on Social-Emotional Literacy in an Early Childhood Classroom. Retrieved from Sophia, the St. Catherine University repository website: https://sophia.stkate.edu/maed/341