An Analysis of Content Delivery Systems Using Speaking Voice, Speaking with Repetition Voice, Chanting Voice, and Singing Voice.

This study investigated the way kindergarten classroom teachers delivered information to students to see if it affected the amount of information students could remember about the solar system. The study also examined whether this difference would be related to the degree of musical aptitude possessed by each student. The students were pretested on solar system facts; then the intervention began. The teacher in each of 16 kindergarten classrooms presented information in either a speaking voice, a speaking voice with repetition, a chanting voice, or a singing voice to four groups of students. After the 20-day intervention, students completed the knowledge test again. Students also completed the Primary Measures of Music Audition to determine their degree of musical aptitude. Data analysis indicated that the speaking with repetition group scored lower than the chanting and singing groups but significantly higher than the speaking alone group. The singing and chanting groups had similar scores. There was no correlation between students' musical aptitude and their gain score. (Contains 11 references.) (SM)