Abstract
Previous research has shown that music performance training enhances cognitive abilities such as performance on spatial temporal reasoning tasks. Several curricula, such as Gardiner’s Thinking in Music curriculum, aim to support such cognitive enhancements through musical training. This study seeks to investigate the effects of preschoolers’ engagement during Thinking in Music lessons on their executive functioning gains in memory and categorization post participation in the Thinking in Music curriculum. The hypothesis was that increased levels of engagement would correlate with increased levels of executive functioning gains from the Thinking in Music curriculum in memory and categorization. Participants were thirty-three 3-5-year-olds enrolled in the Thinking in Music curriculum. Participants completed memory and categorization tasks prior to their participation in the curriculum as well as post-curriculum. Participants’ engagement in the Thinking in Music classes was measured using video and audio recordings of Thinking in Music lessons, coding for compliance at various time intervals throughout the recorded lesson. No significant effect was found between engagement and executive functioning in either memory or categorization. This study could be replicated with a larger and more diverse sample size, with an emphasis on attendance and a scripted Thinking in Music curriculum.