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Making a Song and Dance About It: The Effectiveness of Teaching Children Vocabulary with Animated Music Videos

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  • Ariel Kalil
  • Susan Mayer
  • Philip Oreopoulos
  • Rohen Shah

Abstract

Programs that engage young children in movement and song to help them learn are popular but experimental evidence on their impact is sparse. We use an RCT to evaluate the effectiveness of Big Word Club (BWC), a classroom program that uses music and dance videos for 3-5 minutes per day to increase vocabulary. We conducted a field experiment with 818 preschool and kindergarten students in 47 schools in three U.S. states. We find that treated students scored higher on a test of words targeted by the program (0.30 SD) after four months of use and this effect persisted for two months.

Suggested Citation

  • Ariel Kalil & Susan Mayer & Philip Oreopoulos & Rohen Shah, 2024. "Making a Song and Dance About It: The Effectiveness of Teaching Children Vocabulary with Animated Music Videos," NBER Working Papers 32132, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32132
    Note: CH ED
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    JEL classification:

    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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