Content area
Abstract
An important component of music education is instruction in music reading skills, without which only a very superficial understanding and appreciation of music is possible. Research has indicated that children can learn almost any material if adequate instruction and sufficient time (opportunity to learn) is provided. This study investigated whether the use of Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) at the reinforcement stage of instruction would be effective in meeting individual needs of time on task and allow students to be successful in the acquisition of music reading skills.
A pretest-posttest study compared two methods of providing CAI reinforcement--an untimed atmosphere wherein students worked at their own selected period and length of time at the computer, and a computer lab situation in which students were scheduled a thirty minute period once weekly--with a third (control) method of group reinforcement. Study participants included one-hundred third grade students from 2 schools--one rural central school district and one enlarged city school district. The program consisting of a series of six lessons addressing the music reading skills of staff, pitch and duration identification. Each lesson was followed by one of the three reinforcement methods above.
Results indicate that Computer Assisted Instruction used to reinforce lessons in music reading skills facilitates the learning process more effectively than traditional group reinforcement methods. CAI in a structured lab environment was found more effective at this age level than the unstructured student-selected environment. The skills of staff identification and duration identification showed gains to a more significant degree (p $>$.05) than did the skill of pitch identification.