A presentation in a Conference (Rerearch in Music Education, Exeter, 2003) (more: perakaki.worpress.com).

1. A teaching method of music aiming at the
development of critical thinking in
adolescent pupils
Elissavet Perakaki
Music Teacher

2. The main thinking skills according to the
literature on critical thinking
• comparing
• summarizing
• observing
• classifying
• interpreting
• criticizing
• looking for assumptions
• imagining
• collecting and organizing data
• hypothesizing
• applying facts and principles in new situations
• decision making and
• designing projects or investigations (Raths et al., 1986)

3. The Music Education in Greece
 Focus primarily on memorization of knowledge
 Limited experience in the application of critical thinking as a
teaching method in music within the existing framework
 No reference to metacognition [=the control of the cognitive system,
through which one has the ability to organize, anticipate, direct and
assess his/her thoughts] (Matsagouras,2001)
 Lesson planning completely depended on individual teacher
 Generally, flexible enough

4. Method
• 4 secondary schools in a rural area in Greece
• 297 students of either gender
• Aged 12-15 years

5. Some cognitive changes in adolescence
• Increased speed, automaticity, and capacity of information processing
• Increased ability to construct new combinations of knowledge
(Santrock, 1997)

6. Hypotheses of the Research
• Whether thinking skills could be an integral part of music education
within the Greek educational system, and
• Whether the implementation of an organized method of teaching
music, focused on developing thinking skills, could also increase the
critical thinking of adolescent pupils

7. Triangulation of the research
• Quasi-experiment
• Each class within the experimental group
• Random selection of two students from each class of experimental
group (as case study)

8. Data collection
• Questionnaires
 Evaluation tests devised by the teacher/researcher
 Interviews with self-selected students from both groups
 Tape-recorded participant observations
• Diaries

9. Purposes of the activity
• the construction of maracas using ordinary materials
• Students’ enjoyment

10. The activity in the control group
• I announced to students that they would construct maracas and necessary
materials
• I described to students the whole instruction
• Every student presented in the classroom his/her instrument

11. 1. The instrument’s name is not mentioned to pupils
2. I asked them to try making sounds using only the can and then using
only the rice, or stones or other objects
3. Combination of both materials. Students explored how much rice they
should put inside
4. Students presented their instruments and the rest of them try to
understand the way it was made
5. The student, who made the instrument, corrected the other students’
answers and further explained his instrument’s construction. The rest
of them could offer their criticisms and they suggested some ideas for
any improvements.
The activity in the experimental group

12. Some of the thinking skills, included in this
activity
• Imagination and hypothesizing
• Comparison
• Observation
• Decision making
• Criticism

13. Assessing the activity of control group
• They learned that they can construct an instrument easily
• They learned how to construct it
• They reached the target quickly
• They heard their classmates’ construction and took ideas.

14. Assessing the activity of experimental group
• The group found many different ways to make sound
• Pupils didn’t feel that there was only one answer, they felt safe to risk
• They found themselves the way of instruction
• They understood that the produced sound depended on some factors
• They observed the sound of others’ instruments and they tried to
recognize the way these were made

15. Implications for practice
• This method aspires to become a useful tool for music teachers
• More emphasis in Greek educational system for the creation of an
organised method
• It is apparent that the experimental group shows an increased critical
thinking ability

16. A teaching method of music aiming at the
development of critical thinking for
adolescent pupils
Elisavet Perakaki
Music Teacher