Appraisal of Musical Syntax Violations by Primary School Children

In Western tonal music, musical phrases end with an explicit, highly expected, harmonic consequent. Primary school children were exposed to musical stimuli at two levels of complexity: children’s songs and polyphonic piano pieces. The endings (cadences) of all stimuli were either congruous or contained subtle or marked syntax violations, resulting in three levels of syntactic congruity. The children rated the endings of musical stimuli with respect to goodness of fit by drawing a crossbar through a continuous line stretching between a happy and a sad icon. All children, independent of age, rated the three levels of syntactic congruity hierarchically, for both levels of complexity. Compared to younger children, older children gave more extreme positive and negative ratings to congruous and markedly incongruous endings, respectively, but no developmental trend was found for the intermediate ratings of subtly incongruous endings. We conclude that, as a consequence of mere exposure, implicit learning of musical syntax manifests already in 6-year-old children and develops progressively with age. Moreover, we found indications of modulation of this perceptual development by musical training, an effect reminiscent of the interaction between long-term spontaneous developmental processes and deliberate learning in general cognitive functioning.

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Relationship between Primary School Children’s Physical Fitness, Physical Activity and their Parents’ Physical Activity

Baltic Journal of Sport and Health Sciences ◽

10.33607/bjshs.v2i117.912 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2 (117) ◽

Author(s):

Tomas Vainauskas ◽

Laurynas Dilys ◽

Saulius Šukys ◽

Brigita Miežienė ◽

Arūnas Emeljanovas ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Physical Fitness ◽

Primary School ◽

School Children ◽

Healthy Lifestyle ◽

Primary School Children ◽

Tennis Ball ◽

Older Children ◽

Parental Physical Activity ◽

Children’S Physical Activity

Background. Healthy lifestyle skills instilled in childhood remain into adulthood. Parental physical activity skills are directly related to their children’s physical activity which strengthens their children’s physical fitness. The aim of the study was to determine and evaluate the relationship between parents’ and children’s physical activity and to evaluate the links between children’s physical activity and physical fitness.Methods. The study involved 486 primary school children aged 7 to 10 years (240 boys and 241 girls) and their parents from Kaunas district. The study was conducted in 2018 in Kaunas district schools. Parental physical activity was assessed using Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire-GLTEQ (Godin & Shephard, 1985). Physical activity of primary school children was assessed by submitting a questionnaire to parents developed by researchers Bacardi-Gascón, Reveles-Roy, Woodward-Lopez, Crawford, and Jiménez-Cruz (2012). Schoolchildren’s physical fitness was assessed by 9 physical fitness tests (Fjørtoft, Pedersen, Sigmundsson, & Vereijken, 2011).Results. Having assessed the physical activity of children according to WHO (2010) recommendations, we found that the vast majority of the surveyed children (93.6% of boys and 86.3 of girls) were physically active, i.e. they engaged in physical activity for more than 1 hour during the day. Comparing the schoolchildren’s physical fitness by gender we found that boys were more physically fit than girls when performing long jumps, two-legged jumps, throwing a tennis ball, and running for six minutes (p < .05). Comparing the results of schoolchildren’s physical fitness by grades (Table 3), we observed that the older children were, the more physically fit they were. Correlation analysis of the research results showed a statistically significant direct relationship between father’s and mother’s physical activity (r = .487, p = .0001). A significant relationship was found between the results of children’s physical activity and tennis ball throwing (r = .170, p = .018) and the results of 10 * 5m running tests (r = –.150, p = .019). Higher physical activity was directly associated with better scores on these tests.Conclusion. Schoolchildren’s and their parents’ physical activity has no relation with schoolchildren’s physical fitness.Keywords: healthy, lifestyle, physical activity, physical fitness.

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Changing minds at the earliest opportunity

Psychiatric Bulletin ◽

10.1192/pb.28.6.213 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 28 (6) ◽

pp. 213-215 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Nisha Shah

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Primary School ◽

Primary Education ◽

School Children ◽

Primary School Children ◽

Teaching Staff ◽

Older Children ◽

Negative Attitudes ◽

Mixed Responses ◽

Lack Of Knowledge

Stigmatising attitudes towards mental illness are reinforced by lack of knowledge, and it would seem logical to tackle this from the earliest possible age. A series of talks about mental illness to primary school children were enthusiastically received by the pupils, and revealed that negative attitudes were already present among the older children. The mixed responses of teaching staff supported the idea that increasing awareness of mental illness may have a place in primary education.

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The effects of musical training on the decoding skills of German-speaking primary school children

Journal of Research in Reading ◽

10.1111/jrir.12010 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 38 (1) ◽

pp. 1-17 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Iris Rautenberg

Keyword(s):

Primary School ◽

School Children ◽

Musical Training ◽

Primary School Children ◽

Decoding Skills ◽

German Speaking

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Age and Sex Differences in Fundamental Movement Skills Among a Cohort of Irish School Children

Journal of Motor Learning and Development ◽

10.1123/jmld.2017-0003 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 81-100 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Lisa E. Bolger ◽

Linda A. Bolger ◽

Cian O’ Neill ◽

Edward Coughlan ◽

Wesley O’Brien ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sex Differences ◽

Primary School ◽

School Children ◽

Motor Development ◽

Primary Schools ◽

Primary School Children ◽

Older Children ◽

Object Control ◽

Control Score ◽

Age And Sex

The purpose of this study was to assess the fundamental movement skill (FMS) proficiency of Irish primary school children relative to age and sex. Data collected were baseline measures forProject Spraoi, a physical activity (PA) and nutrition-based intervention. Participants (N = 203) were senior infant (n = 102,Mage: 6.0 ± 0.4 years) and fourth class (n = 101,Mage: 9.9 ± 0.4 years) children from three primary schools in the south of Ireland. FMS testing was conducted using the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 (TGMD-2), assessing six locomotor and six object-control skills. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to assess age and sex related differences in FMS proficiency. Older children scored significantly higher than younger children in both locomotor (p < .05) and object-control score (p < .05). Boys scored significantly higher than girls in object-control score (p < .05), while girls scored significantly higher in locomotor score (p < .05). FMS levels among Irish primary school children are similar to children worldwide, with age and sex differences evident. Early interventions, aimed at improving FMS, are warranted among Irish primary school aged children as greater proficiency is related to greater PA participation and numerous health benefits.

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Factors influencing wellbeing in young people during COVID-19: A survey with 6291 young people in Wales

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0260640 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (12) ◽

pp. e0260640

Author(s):

Michaela James ◽

Hope Jones ◽

Amana Baig ◽

Emily Marchant ◽

Tegan Waites ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Young People ◽

Secondary School ◽

Primary School ◽

School Children ◽

Online Survey ◽

Primary School Children ◽

Older Children ◽

Asian Ethnicity ◽

The World ◽

Mixed Ethnicity

COVID-19 infection and the resultant restrictions has impacted all aspects of life across the world. This study explores factors that promote or support wellbeing for young people during the pandemic, how they differ by age, using a self-reported online survey with those aged 8–25 in Wales between September 2020 and February 2021. Open-ended responses were analysed via thematic analysis to provide further context. A total of 6,291 responses were obtained from 81 education settings across Wales (including primary and secondary schools as well as sixth form, colleges and universities). Wellbeing was highest in primary school children and boys and lowest in those who were at secondary school children, who were girls and, those who preferred not to give a gender. Among primary school children, higher wellbeing was seen for those who played with lots of others (rather than alone), were of Asian ethnicity (OR 2.17, 95% CI: 1.26 to 4.3), had a safe play area (OR: 2.4, 95% CI: 1.67 to 2.56) and had more sleep. To support their wellbeing young people reported they would like to be able to play with their friends more. Among secondary school children those who were of mixed ethnicity reported lower wellbeing (OR: 5.14, 95% CI: 1.68 to 15.79). To support their wellbeing they reported they would like more support with mental health (due to anxiety and pressure to achieve when learning online). This study found self-reported wellbeing differed by gender, ethnicity and deprivation and found younger children report the need for play and to see friends to support wellbeing but older children/young people wanted more support with anxiety and educational pressures.

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Factors influencing wellbeing in young people during COVID-19.

10.1101/2021.08.13.21261959 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Michaela James ◽

Hope Jones ◽

Amana Baig ◽

Emily Marchant ◽

Tegan Waites ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Young People ◽

Secondary School ◽

Primary School ◽

School Children ◽

Online Survey ◽

Primary School Children ◽

Older Children ◽

Asian Ethnicity ◽

Safe Area ◽

Mixed Ethnicity

COVID-19 infection and the resultant restrictions has impacted all aspects of life across the world. This study explores factors that promote or support wellbeing for young people during the pandemic, how they differ by age, using a self-reported online survey with those aged 8 - 25 in Wales between September 2020 and February 2021. Open-ended responses were analysed via thematic analysis to provide further context. A total of 6,291 responses were obtained from 81 education settings across Wales (including primary and secondary schools as well as sixth form, colleges and universities). Wellbeing was highest in primary school children and boys and lowest in those who were at secondary school children, who were girls and, those who preferred not to give a gender. Among primary school children, higher wellbeing was seen for those who played with others (rather than alone), were of Asian ethnicity (OR 2.3, 95% CI: 1.26 to 4.3), lived in a safe area (OR: 2.0, 95% CI: 1.67 to 2.5) and had more sleep. To support their wellbeing young people reported they would like to be able to play with their friends more. Among secondary school children those who were of mixed ethnicity reported lower wellbeing (OR: 5.10, 95% CI: 1.70 to 15.80). To support their wellbeing they reported they would like more support with mental health (due to anxiety and pressure to achieve when learning online). This study found self-reported wellbeing differed by gender, ethnicity and deprivation and found younger children report the need for play and to see friends to support wellbeing but older children/young people wanted more support with anxiety and educational pressures.

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