CONSTRUCTIVISM IN MUSIC EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY: CREATING AN ENVIRONMENT FOR CHORAL COMPOSITION IN THE FOURTH AND FIFTH GRADES

This is the abstract of my doctoral dissertation for the PhD at New York University. This research will be presented at the 2008 Hawaii International Conference on Education. I previously spoke on my work at the 2005 National Conference of the College Music Society in Quebec City, Canada.


This research addresses how the integration of representative music education computer software applications like Morton Subotnick’s Creating Music, Music Ace I and Music Ace II can be used in the creation of teaching environments designed to develop critically reflective music makers who engage synthesis, evaluation and critical reflection in the cognitive process. The project explores how the integration of such representative computer applications can assist in the development of teaching strategies designed to lead students to compose a text-based choral composition, an essential element of a general/choral curriculum. This problem is interrogated by creating a “meta-journal” monitoring the progress of the design of a text-based choral composition project using computer technology to assist in the creative, intuitive compositional process with the philosophy of constructivism engaged as a lens through which to view the educational setting. The curricular design of this project is geared toward students in a fourth and fifth grade music class who have been assigned an eight-week composition task guided by the creative, intuitive design of the computer applications within the school lab available to them. This project will use all performing forces available within the school, and will be shaped by the students’ imagination and interaction with the education computer software as well as their vision for a text-based choral composition with varied accompaniment including, but not limited to, piano, organ, band instruments, handbells, choir chimes, Orff rhythm instruments and digital synthesizer.
Constructivism has played a major role in the development of new technology for use in music education. As Peter Webster observes, “ the final force that underscores much of the more contemporary research on music technology is the interest in constructionism as a basis for learning” (2002, p. 418). Perkins, in addressing instructional design of technology, stresses two major points: “American education is failing to prepare our students to be successful in today’s world and, in order to remedy this situation, instruction must focus on retention, understanding and active use of what is learned” (1992, p. 92). Recognizing that there exists a great disconnect between classroom learning and music lab learning that has yet to be bridged will be the starting point for the pursuit of this complex research problem.
In this twenty-first century, computer technology has become commonplace in all levels of American education. This dissertation will explore processes music educators and curriculum developers go through when designing learning experiences that integrate current computer technology into their curricula, forging ways for music education practitioners and researchers to apply constructivist philosophy to the use of computer technology in the music classroom. Specifically, the research focus will draw on the use of Morton Subotnick’s “Making Music” integrated into a constructivist environment; linking together the, too often parallel and disconnected, pedagogical paradigms of the applied music classroom and the computer lab. Integral to the structure of this doctoral thesis will be the design of a student-centered project embedded within a curriculum spanning the academic year. The primary focus will be a computer composition project, however, the year-long curriculum will supply the landscape out of which this project is drawn. This curriculum will embed information and communication technology (ICT) into a music education program for primary school grades. Specifically, this work will focus on composition, an essential component of this curriculum and a particularly strong design feature of Subotnick’s work. In addition to narrating the process of this design, I will address important issues identified both in music education literature as well as problems that arise in the implementation of my curriculum in the pre-kindergarten through sixth grade general choral music program I teach.
Drawing from current literature in the areas of (1) philosophy of music education, (2) music education technology, (3) cognitive development and (4) learning theory, this work illuminates how students learn music best with computer-assisted instruction (CAI), how CAI coincides or departs with commonly established philosophies of music education (a praxial philosophy, or an aesthetic philosophy, for example), and how CAI addresses current theories in the field of cognitive psychology related to learning and development (for example, Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, or Robert Steinberg’s theory of successful intelligence).
The use of computers in music instruction is a broad-based concept that could potentially take many directions. Computers can be used to access the internet, for example, opening up possibilities for distance learning (synchronous and asynchronous), and collaboration (Rees, 2002). They can also be used in a variety of ways with software applications designed for composition, theory, and performance using the artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities of a computer (Rowe, 2001). Each is a large area of inquiry. My study will focus, however, on the integration of computer and internet technology that is available in a typical music classroom situation involving readily available applications on standard computer equipment.
Too often, music educators view music theory and composition as skill-based components of music curricula rather then explore the possibilities constructivist perspectives might lend to the engagement of student-centered problem solving in collaborative environments. My guiding research question is: “what effect would a computer-based learning experience grounded in composition have on students’ abilities to critically problem solve as they are guided to approach the study of composition?”