Purves, RM and Rinta, T and Welch, G (Eds). (2011) Usability of Music for Social Inclusion of Children (UMSIC) Work Package 9 Composite Impact Analysis and Project Closure Report. UCL Institute of Education: London, UK.

Text PurvesEtAl2011CompositeUMSICWP9Report.pdf - Submitted Version Access restricted to UCL open access staff Download (20MB)

Abstract

The report focuses on the overall impact evaluation of the Usability of Music for the Social Inclusion of Children (UMSIC) Project. The aim of this three-year Framework 7 funded research was to design, develop and evaluate a mobile music technology product that would reduce the sense of marginalisation of children who are immigrant, growing up in multicultural contexts or who have moderate learning difficulties. The project involved a multidisciplinary team drawing from four countries (UK, Finland, Switzerland and Greece). Teachers in both Finland and England reported that the software appears to be broadly appropriate for UMSIC’s two prime target groups, i.e., recently immigrant children and children with ADHD. According to the teachers, children in both countries demonstrated high levels of motivation to use JamMo. Teachers commented favourably on JamMo’s clear interface and extensive library of musical materials. In terms of emotional engagement and behaviour, throughout this fieldwork project, and despite the many technical challenges of working with beta- grade software, the participating pupils remained overwhelming enthusiastic about JamMo and its potential musical opportunities. In particular, the basic premise of constructing music using pre-existing musical loops was clearly attractive to children and the research suggested that they enjoyed the musical materials of JamMo. The findings support other recent research that musical activities in groups can facilitate feelings of social inclusion in children. Positive benefits have been observed by each of the national teams in terms of (i) children’s social behaviours and sense of inclusion; (ii) language use in a musical context; and (iii) children’s music making and learning. The results from log-file based analyses indicate that children’s creative processes consisted of three main musical activity categories: music listening, musical material exploration and active creation of music products. Concerning connections between social inclusion and music making (such as with JamMo), in the current study, statistically significant links were found between the regularity of group music-making and singing activities and the participants’ feelings of social inclusion. The more frequent the engagement in social music activities was (i.e. playing a musical instrument or singing with one’s family or friends), the more socially included the children felt.

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