Learning Objective #1: Understand the effectiveness of using songs to teach

Learning Objective #2: Recognize that the use of asthma rap songs can be more effective for teaching than a conventional asthma lecture

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An experimental study was conducted to evaluate the effect of teaching 60 grade school children about asthma using two asthma rap songs Asthma Stuff ©1999 and Asthma Stuff 2©2001. All of the children attended a parochial school in Queens, New York. They ranged in age from 11 to 14 years and were either in the 6th, 7th, or 8th grade. The theoretical underpinning of this study was based on the theory of multiple intelligences (Gardner, 1993). These include pictures (spatial intelligence), music (music intelligence), self-reflection (interpersonal intelligence), a physical experience (bodily-kinesthetic intelligence), a social experience (intrapersonal intelligence) and an experience in the natural world (naturalist intelligence). Howard Gardner (1993) states that lessons need to be planned in a manner that utilizes different intelligences that we possess. One-half of the students in the research were exposed to the traditional method of teaching information about asthma, that is, lecture/discussion and demonstration. The experimental group was exposed strictly to two rap songs, Asthma Stuff ©1999 and Asthma Stuff 2 ©2001, written by John D. Clarke, MD. The researcher, a school nurse, presented the classes using the rap songs. The hypotheses children will retain more information about asthma by hearing and reading lyrics to an asthma rap song than by receiving information about asthma by attending a traditional lecture and demonstration was supported and significantly significant at the .002 employing ANOVA. The findings of this study support using music to educate children about health problems. It was shown that Dr. Clarke's asthma rap songs are an effective way of helping children and teenagers recall information on asthma triggers, medication, and the proper use of the inhaler to prevent asthma attacks.