Thinking and Listening p. 1 The Effect of Critical Thinking Instruction on Verbal Descriptions of Music Daniel C. Johnson [email protected]The University of North Carolina Wilmington Bio Daniel C. Johnson is associate professor of music at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. His research interests include music listening, critical thinking, and teachers’ professional development. Author’s Note This article is based on the author’s doctoral dissertation, “The effect of critical thinking instruction in music listening on fifth-grade students’ verbal descriptions of music,” completed at the University of Arizona in 2003.
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Thinking and Listening p. 1
The Effect of Critical Thinking Instruction on Verbal Descriptions of Music
Daniel C. Johnson is associate professor of music at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. His research interests include music listening, critical thinking, and teachers’ professional development.
Author’s Note
This article is based on the author’s doctoral dissertation, “The effect of critical thinking instruction in music listening on fifth-grade students’ verbal descriptions of music,” completed at the University of Arizona in 2003.
Thinking and Listening p. 2
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of critical thinking instruction on
music listening skills of fifth-grade students as measured by written responses to music
listening. The researcher compared instruction that included opportunities for critical
thinking (Critical Thinking Instruction, CTI) with parallel instruction without critical
thinking opportunities (Activity-Based Instruction, ABI). The same music teacher
delivered both instructional treatments concurrently in a series of sixteen, forty-five
minute classroom lessons. Two randomly-assigned, intact classes of participants (n = 41
and 40) comprised the CTI and ABI treatment groups, respectively. Three independent
judges scored participants’ pretest and posttest responses using a researcher-designed
instrument. Using a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), the researcher found a
significant test by treatment interaction. The post hoc analysis indicated that while the
CTI participants scored higher on the posttest as compared with the pretest, ABI
participants demonstrated no significant differences by test. Readers should note the
larger than expected standard deviations when considering the positive effects of the CTI
treatment . Implications include recommendations for future research and for designing
music listening lessons to incorporate critical thinking skills in classroom music
instruction.
Thinking and Listening p. 3
Music listening is a meaningful activity for people throughout the world.
Furthermore, it is of primary importance to music education, essential to each of the nine
“National Standards for Music Education” (MENC—The National Association for Music
Education, 1994), and fundamental to other musical experiences (Hartshorn, 1957;
Kerchner, 2009; Reimer, 2003). In practice, however, listening to music may be
neglected in favor of performance skills in music classrooms and ensembles (Haack,
1992). Boal-Palherios and Hargreaves (2001) found that listening skills addressed in
schools were taught didactically with students expected to acquire music vocabulary, and
some school listening instruction has been found to discourage students from
participating in music study (Williamson, 2005). Instead of the direct methods music
teachers often use to teach listening skills at the knowledge level (Sheldon & DeNardo,
2005), more indirect instruction taking a constructivist approach emphasizes the listener’s
personal responses to musical experiences. Rather than relying on terminology and music
theory to inform the listener, teachers can promote thinking in musical contexts by using
inquiry and analysis (Bamberger, 2000). While students are naturally predisposed to
create meaning and construct concepts (Hunt, 1982), Meyers wrote, “the specific ways in
which we make sense of the world are learned” (1986, p. 11). Such a learner-centered
approach to music listening and music education lends itself to higher order thinking
skills, a basis for critical thinking (Olson, 2000).
Although it is a universal term and a major educational goal in academic and
education literature (D’Angelo, 1971; Richardson, 1998), “critical thinking” often lacks a
clear definition (Petress, 2004). Several authorities have characterized critical thinking as
Thinking and Listening p. 4
a process beginning with information comprehension and including reasoning skills and
thinking for one’s self (Bloom, 1956; Ennis, 1962; Sternberg, 1985). Other experts
emphasized self-constructed meaning and discovery as essential qualities of critical
thinking (Kim, 1993; Kurfiss, 1988; Meyers, 1986). Consistent with these perspectives, I
chose one of the most well known definitions of critical thinking for the purposes of this
study: “reasonable reflective thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or do
[with newly acquired information]” (Ennis, 1991, p. 1-2). In musical contexts, the
processes of comparing, evaluating, reflecting, judging, and classifying provide evidence
of critical thinking (Bundra, 1993; Richardson, 1998) and encompass elements of both
generalizable and subject-specific thinking skills (Woodford, 1995).
Activities that promote significant and meaningful music learning should ideally
form the basis for general music instruction (Campbell & Scott-Kassner, 2006). Effective
music listening pedagogy enhances students’ music listening experiences, including
feelings and thoughts expressed through the medium of music (Tait & Haack, 1984). In
terms of meaningful learning, I chose to employ a constructivist approach emphasizing
students’ reflective understanding of musical experiences and their need to make
meaning of their own musical experiences (Wiggins, 2001). Because constructivism is
often an effective pedagogical approach when using higher-order cognitive skills
(Sheldon & DeNardo, 2005) and because the primary goal of education is the
development of thought processes instead of accumulating information (Whitehead,
1929/1967), I combined these educational approaches when designing a critical thinking
treatment to investigate learning in music listening instruction.
Thinking and Listening p. 5
Rationale
In the twenty-first century, listeners have unprecedented access to a wealth of
music and information via the Internet and other digital media. They are frequently
overwhelmed with the sheer quantity of music and information available, often becoming
passive consumers (O’Brien, 1987; Sims, 1990). As a result, discriminating listeners need
to select from an increasing amount of music and information. Simultaneously, students’
abilities to understand and process information have not kept pace with the voluminous
resources available to them (Meyers, 1986), demanding a higher quality of thought at the
turn of the twenty-first century (Paul, 1993). To reflect technological changes, teachers
should impart thinking skills instead of mere information (Knowles, 1980).
In general education, several researchers have reported success in enhancing
students’ responses through the use of critical thinking instruction. In existing literature
on teacher questioning procedures and student achievement, researchers reported that
asking questions was the most direct way of encouraging student participation,
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Figure 1. Sample Lesson Plan on Melodic Motion.
Step Activity-Based Instruction (ABI) Critical Thinking Instruction (CTI) 1 Play the recording and tell students to listen
for the direction of the melody. Play the recording and tell students to listen for the direction of the melody.
1a Ask the students: How would you describe the melody? How would you show it?
2 Tell the students that this music has a melody that sometimes goes up, sometimes goes down, and sometimes repeats the same note.
Tell the students that this music has a melody that sometimes goes up, sometimes goes down, and sometimes repeats the same note. 3 Demonstrate the shape of the melody by
moving a flag. Demonstrate the shape of the melody by moving a flag.
4 Distribute a flag to each student, play the recording again, and have the students mirror your movements.
Distribute a flag to each student, play the recording again, and have the students mirror your movements.
5 Play the recording again, use the other hand to show the melodic contour, and have the students mirror your movements.
Play the recording again, have the students improvise their own motions using a flag to show the melodic contour.
5a Ask the students: How well did your motions show the melody? How did your motions compare with motions other students improvised? How might you change your motions? Why?
6 Tell students that melodies have lines and shapes that either go up or “ascend,” go down or “descend,” or repeat the same pitch. Explain that melodies sometimes move by step to notes close by, sometimes move by leap to notes further away, and sometimes repeat the same notes.
Tell students that melodies have lines and shapes that either go up or “ascend,” go down or “descend,” or repeat the same pitch. Explain that melodies sometimes move by step to notes close by, sometimes move by leap to notes further away, and sometimes repeat the same notes.
7 Play the recording again and have the students mirror your motions as you show how the melody moves up and down, and by leap or step using a flag.
Play the recording again and have the students show how the melody moves up and down, and by leap or step with their flag. Pause the recording, invite students to take turns leading the class, and resume the recording.
Thinking and Listening p. 32
Table 1 Means and Standard Deviations for the Listening and Thinking Measure by Treatment by Test TREATMENT Pretest Posttest Change from Component M SD M SD Pretest to Posttest CTI Musical Term 16.63 7.08 26.45 12.71 +9.82 Affective 2.62 2.69 4.57 4.94 +1.95 Associative 3.75 2.47 6.72 6.43 +2.97 Total 23.00 9.17 37.74 21.23 +14.74 ABI Musical Term 16.03 5.96 14.34 6.49 -1.69 Affective 1.73 1.70 2.60 2.83 +0.87 Associative 2.78 1.92 2.26 2.18 -0.52 Total 20.54 7.38 19.20 8.73 -1.34