Attention and flow experience in preschool children during music circle time and music free-choice time

The purpose of this study was to investigate flow experiences and attention in children ages three and four years in two music learning conditions: group instruction time (music circle time) and free-choice time. Two intact preschool classes were used: The control group received group music instruction only, and the experimental group received group music instruction and music free-choice time. An attention task served as the testing instrument for all subjects (N = 30) in this pretest-posttest design. The classes were videotaped for post hoc evaluation of flow experience under the two conditions of circle time (control group) and free-choice time (experimental group). Two-sample t-tests performed to determine differences between groups in attention capabilities and change in attention capabilities between pretest and posttest found no significant differences. Median tests were performed to assess differences between groups in terms of flow experiences. The experimental group showed significantly greater frequencies of all flow behavior dimensions, but the groups were not significantly different in the frequency of no flow behaviors observed. Although no significant differences were found in attention span gains between groups, the study does highlight interesting issues regarding the flow experiences of the two music learning environments and the possible benefits for young children.