Studying the Problem of Practice (Pt. 2)

Please see below for assignment #2:

Defining the Problem of Practice

This month, I started a long-term teaching position for Music and IAPS (Introduction to Anthropology, Psychology, and Sociology). While I was thrilled to be teaching Music, I did not have any experience teaching Humanities. My first week was the most challenging. Picking up where the last teacher left off is never an easy feat, but I kept thinking that Music and Humanities could not be more different from each other. How was I going to plan a curriculum for these subjects that were nothing alike?

By the end of my first week, I started to realize that I had been looking at the situation the wrong way. The two subjects have more in common than I realized, nor did I have to be limited to the approaches that the previous teacher chose to take. Coming to this conclusion changed my outlook drastically, and now I come to work with a growth mindset, rather than a fixed one.

Through the daily reflections from my first two weeks in this position, I have been considering the relationship between Music and non-Music subjects. One of my goals as an Arts educator is to encourage others to find effective strategies to implement Music (and The Arts) into their instructional approaches. Studying Music can enhance memory, affect cognitive development, improve reading skills, assist with phonological processing, and encourage the usage of critical thinking skills (Sala and Gobet, 2020, p.2). These are applicable skills that are beneficial to a child’s development and are transferable to all subjects and everyday life.

I have always been interested in researching the connections between Music and Literacy and would like to focus my research on this area.

Inquiry Question

How does Music education promote critical thinking and the development of problem-solving skills in Literacy?

Interview Questions

1. Could you please introduce yourself and your background in music education?

2. What do you think are some of the benefits to having students participate in cross-curricular music and literacy instruction?

3. What are some of the challenges that you have experienced when integrating literacy instruction into music education?

4. What are some strategies that you have for educators who want to promote critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and other literacy-based skills into their music curriculum?

Survey Questions

1. Could you please describe some examples of how you have incorporated music education activities or strategies into your literacy instruction?

2. Have you noticed any improvement to critical thinking skills in students who have participated in a music-literacy curriculum? Could you please expand on your observations?

3. In your experience, what are some specific musical elements, aspects, or techniques that enhance critical thinking and problem-solving skills?

4. Are there any specific resources that you have utilized in your teaching that helped you incorporate literacy elements into your music curriculum? If yes, could you recommend a resource for music educators that might help with this?

5. Is there any information that might be helpful for a music educator to know, so that they can best plan their curriculum and understand the relation between critical thinking, problem-solving skills in literacy, and music/arts education?

References

Sala, G., & Gobet, F. (2020). Cognitive and academic benefits of music training with children: A multilevel meta-analysis. Memory & Cognition. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/7s8wr

Queen's University, Victoria Hall, November 2016