Effects of Pretend Imagery on Learning Dance in Preschool Children

摘要

Play is important in child development and learning. The intent of this study was to assess the effects of play, using physical movement and pretend imagery, on learning dance. Four preschool dance classes, encompassing 32 children ages 3–6, were randomly divided into pretend imagery groups and traditional teaching groups. The classes were videotaped over 3 weeks and rated for speed of learning new motor skills, future recall of the skills, attentiveness to the task, and enjoyment during the task. As hypothesized, results found that children in the pretend imagery group had significantly better visual fixation on the instructor, engagement in and enjoyment during the task, and needed less prompting and time to recall and a shorter amount of time to learn the skill than children in the traditional teaching group. There is little research in this area of learning and play, but the results of this study suggest more is warranted.