Supporting the social-emotional skills of pre-school children by means of rhythm-based music activities

The objective of this study is to support the social-emotional skills of preschool children through rhythm-based music activities. In the study the "mixed method" are used together. In the quantitative dimension of the study, "quasi-experimental design" was used, while in the qualitative dimension, "case study" was used. The study population consists of 48 children, 24 experimental and 24 control group, who attend a pre-school education. In the quantitative dimension of the study, the "Emotion Regulation Questionnaire", "Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation-30 (SCBE-30) Questionnaire" "Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (HTKS) Questionnaire" were used as pre test -post-test for all groups. Moreover, a follow-up test was implemented on the children in the experimental group two months after the end of the educational curriculum. In the qualitative dimension, "Child Interview Questions", "Teacher Interview Questions" and "Field Notes" developed by the researcher were implemented. The Rhythm-Based Music Education Curriculum prepared within the scope of the study was applied to the children in the experimental group face-to-face three days a week for the period of eight weeks. The children in the control group, on the other hand, continued the preschool education curriculum. The difference between the pre-test and post-test scores between the groups was examined with the Mann-Whitney U or t-Test. The pre-test-post-test score difference of the children in the experimental and control group was examined with the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test. For the qualitative data of the study, a descriptive analysis was conducted for the responses given by the children to the questions asked. The findings were supported by teacher interview and field notes. According to the findings of the study, no significant difference was observed in the pre-test scores of the Emotion Regulation, SCBE-30 and HTKS questionnaires of the experimental and control groups, however, there was a significant difference in favor of the experimental group in the post-test scores, except for the anxiety-introversion score, which is sub-dimension of SCBE-30. There was an increase in the musical knowledge of the children in the experimental groups and their responses to social-emotional skills.