overcoming barriers of teaching sound-based music

Overcoming Barriers of Teaching Sound-Based Music

Dr. Motje Wolf & Dr. Sarah Younie

Division of Education Studies in collaboration with the

Music, Technology and Innovation Research Centre

De Montfort University Leicester

(Overcoming) Barriers of Teaching Sound-Based Music

Dr. Motje Wolf & Dr. Sarah Younie

Division of Education Studies in collaboration with the

Music, Technology and Innovation Research Centre

De Montfort University Leicester

May 2, 2023 3

Content

• Introduction to EARS 2 project• EARS 2 teacher’s pack Study• Results - Barriers

Dr. Motje Wolf and Dr. Sarah Younie, De Montfort University Leicester

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EARS 2 PROJECT

http://ears2.dmu.ac.ukhttp://cws.dmu.ac.uk


http://ears2.dmu.ac.uk/

http://cws.dmu.ac.uk/

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EARS 2 project• Pedagogical ElectroAcoustic

Resource Site:• Online learning environment

introducing sound-based music to children

• Accompanied by composition software “Compose with Sounds” (CwS)

• Aimed at children aged between 11-14 (KS 3 England & Wales)

• Teacher’s Packs offering pedagogical background


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EARS 2 TEACHER’S PACK STUDY


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Testing and Developing Teacher’s Packs

• 1) User-centred design– Iterative cycles of

feedback and changes developed with target group (soundscape)

• 2) Classroom trial– Teacher received online

project, teacher’s pack and software to teach new genre (acousmatic music)

– First lesson successful


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Critical Incident

• Technical bug – music not playable for teacher• Teacher cancelled and dropped out• Research team finished teaching

• Additional Analysis using Critical Incident Technique (Flanagan 1954, Hughes 2007)


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What happened?

• Teacher– Liked project– Was helpful in development– Interested in contemporary music– Interested in music technology

• What went wrong?


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Cognitive Prototype• Cognitive psychology:

classification of “stimuli by successfully matching them with an abstract schema, or ‘prototype’…”

• “… everyday experiences are classified more easily if they correspond with a prototype for that kind of experience.”

(North and Hargreaves 2008, 85).


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Cognitive Prototype – Wolf (2013)

• Wolf (2013) studied appreciation of sound-based music with 11-14 year old pupils

• Pupils received listening training at the beginning of a 5 week workshop (1h/week).

• Results: building of a cognitive prototype happened (able to use new vocabulary, less comparing to other listening experience).

• Development of cognitive prototype through factual knowledge, through listening training and applying this to pieces.


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Cognitive Prototype EARS 2 Teacher’s Pack Study

• This training was not completed with the teacher

• Teacher might not have developed a strong enough cognitive prototype to scaffold her own learning with the resources that were provided.

• (She could not swap the piece for another one.)


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Shulman’s Knowledge Types(Shulman 1986, 1987)

• Content knowledge: website, Compose with Sounds and teacher’s packs

• Research team explained the teacher different activities and software (CPD)

• Feedback very positive; no room for assuming that the learning of the teacher had not been successful. – Teacher offered the

classroom trial


7 Categoriescontent knowledge, curriculum knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, knowledge of learners and their

characteristics, knowledge of educational

contexts,knowledge of educational values.

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Pedagogic Content Knowledge(Shulman 1986)

7 Categoriescontent knowledge, curriculum knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, knowledge of learners and their

characteristics, knowledge of educational

contexts,knowledge of educational values.

• Assumption: teacher uses own pedagogic content knowledge to teach herself the content.

• Unreflected assumption

• Research team not aware of own assumption


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Community of Practice

• Community of Practice not available• Only music teacher at school (isolation)• Dialogic learning through reflective

discussions cannot happen.• Leask and Younie (2001) Communal

constructivism


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What’s next?

• Study continues in larger scale with following changes:

• Community of Practice• CPD – cognitive prototype• CPD – pedagogic content knowledge


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ReferencesFlanagan, J.C. (1954) The critical incident technique. Psychological Bulletin, 51(4), pp.327–

358.Hughes, H. (2007) Critical Incident Technique. In Exploring methods in information literacy

research. Topics in Australasian Library and Information Studies. pp. 49–66.Leask, M. and Younie, S. (2001) Communal Constructivist Theory: pedagogy of information

and communications technology & internationalisation of the curriculum. Journal of Information Technology for Teacher Education, 10 (1-2), pp. 117-134.

North, A. and Hargreaves, D. (2008) The social and applied psychology of music, Oxford: Oxford University press.

Shulman, L.S. (1986) Those Who Understand: Knowledge Growth in Teaching. Educational Researcher, 15(2), pp.4–14.

Shulman, L. S. (1987) Knowledge and Teaching: Foundations of the New Reform, Harvard Educational Review, 57(1), 1-22.

Wolf, M. (2013) The Appreciation of Electroacoustic Music – An Empirical Study with Inexperienced Listeners, PhD E-thesis. Available from: https://www.dora.dmu.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/2086/8680


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Thank you for listening!

Dr. Motje Wolf: [email protected]. Sarah Younie: [email protected]

http://ears2.dmu.ac.ukhttp://cws.dmu.ac.uk
