1. According to the professor's comments, please revise the content of pages one to six, that is,
the section from introduction to literature review. And those two new articles, you can add
them into literatur review section.
I'll revise the rest of it. I hope we can work well together. I hope we can work well together
to complete this paper.
Introduction:
Student engagement is a crucial factor in the success of students enrolled in higher
education. Student engagement (SE) is a buzzword in higher education (HE), with researchers,
insti-tutions, and students using it to address various activities designed to enhance the overall
student experience (Maxwell-Stuart & Huisman, 2018). Although a large number of research
exists on pedagogies that influence student engagement, investigating pedagogies that influence
student engagement in higher education remains an important research topic. In particularly, in
the field of music education.
Constructivist pedagogy has been largely adopted in music institutes. However, fewer
researchers have clearly highlighted different mechanisms through which the theory can
separately molded, implemented, decoded and adopted into in-service classroom learning
practices (Morford, J. B. 2007 & Cleaver, D., & Ballantyne, J. 2014). This study used
constructivists practices for addressing the challenges face by PiPa ensemble class as it is widely
implemented theory and different past studies have proven its positive impact on students’
creativity and engagement. Students’ less involvement and low creativity are the main problems
which needs to be controlled and it can be only overcome through the successful implementation
of constructivists practices (Abrahams, F. 2005), so this study choose these practices to evaluate
whether students’ engagement improved or not.
Problem Statement:
The pipa ensemble class faced the problem of students in lack of participation. Moreover, the
students had little creativity and always showed relatively low motivation. They also did not
dislike sharing opinions and suggestions. Throughout the teaching period, students did not try to
create and group members did not cooperate much with each other. This study intends to address
all such problems by comparing the situation of students before and after the implementation of
constructivists’ practices.
2. Purpose:
There are a lot of studies which have measured the importance and significant implementations
of constructivists’ practices in education or to improve the students’ engagement. But less
attention has been paid towards the implementation of constructivists practices in music
education (López-Íñiguez, G., & Pozo, J. I. 2016). It has been observed while working in different
schools that constructivism has been perceived or promoted in variety of ways and how it is
adopted in practice also differs. The procedure of implementing theoretical principles into
teaching actions is largely subjective as well as the ways used by an individual to execute this
process is a crucial step for teachers. Moreover, majority of studies evaluated the impact of
constructivists’ theories of music learning, while Pipa learning and teaching has been largely
unexplored . Morford, J. B. (2007), also measured the base of constructivism and its
implementations are checked to prove their authenticity and the quality of music pedagogy. All
these studies clearly explained the association of this study with the all those pasts studies which
have studied constructivists’ practices on students’ performance. However, the gaps left in the
domain of PiPa have been tried to fill by this study. To attract more scholars to pay attention to
the phenomenon of low student participation in Chinese instrumental music courses and to
explore more ways to solve this problem.
The purpose of the study was to improve students' engagement in pipa ensemble class, so asto
improve their performance skills. By increasing student participation in the classroom, students
will further improve their ability to learn independently in pipa lessons and improve class
performance, including engagement between the teacher and students, and connections between
group members. This study intends to address such problems by comparing the situation of
students before and after the implementation of constructivists practices.
Research Questions:
Main question:
How can the engagement of students in Pipa class be enhanced by implementing constructive
practices?
Sub-questions:
1. What type of constructive practices could be beneficial?
3. 2. How can the students’ involvement and creativity in class be increased?
3. Which type of techniques about a pipa ensemble class can increase students’
engagement?
Literature Review:
This section starts with the student engagement xxxx, followed by xxxxx, then xxxx will be
provided
Students Engagement:
Student engagement has been widely discussed in ……Sheila Scott (2011) conducted a study to
observe the constructivist theories for teaching with a focus on students’ oriented frameworks in
education and the active involvement of students in learning as they link new understanding to
what they already identify and cultivate past skills in terms of newly attained competencies.
They observed the improvement in the music education as they revised syllabus with
consideration to involved learning as observed within constructivist manners of knowing.
Garnett, J. (2013) conducted a study to explain the national syllabus of music in UK. He used the
case study methodology for highlighting the characteristics of music syllabus depending on
constructivists’ laws, along with the influence of learning in professional manner. The findings
of the study highlighted that the syllabus preparation in the perspectives of musical
improvements, and learning by focusing on constructivists practices enhance the quality of music
education.
According to (Ofsted, 2012), musical perceptions if disconnected from logical music
composition may become a practice in explaining hollow perceptions as compared to a chance
for people to enhance their own rational thinking. He explained the concept of Regelski’s
investigation (1986) who described the common summaries of unmusical thematic based
learning. By joining the musical composition and musical perception the opportunity rose for
people who develop their own perception of music, and for this empathetic to be engrained in the
practice of sound constructivism practices are necessary. Without a logical practice of music,
there is nothing for a person to understand about the basis of music.
4. Scott, S. (2006) performed a study to evaluate and compare various techniques that design a
foundation for the adaptation of constructivists teaching environments. He highlighted Mr.
Cruthers who designed his constructivism music program for measuring the significance of
constructive techniques in music education. The study reported after collecting data through
surface methodology that the classrooms which are implemented constructivist practices by
teachers have more regulated framework as students may discuss freely their own perceptions
while composing music.
Banihashem, et., al (2022) conducted a study to compute the effect of the constructivist learning
framework and teaching Analytics (CLDLA) on teachers’ engagement and self-monitoring. It is
basically an experiment based research which interpreted results on the basis of collected data
from fifty graduates of Iranian University. They were asked to fill questioners consisting of
questions about the agentic engagement scale and self-regulations in two steps as a pre and post
measurements. The findings of the study reported that the CLDLA techniques put positive
influence on teachers’ engagement and self-monitoring.
Chinese Students’ engagement in xxxx class? :
Chin and Brown (2000) conducted a study to report the problems and challenges associated with
the music syllabus for university students in China. They observed that according to the
constructivists’ perceptions music syllabus are composed and adopted not to offer a platform for
the effective delivery of content but to create avenues for students to search musical issues and
by doing so enhance music content information and performance competencies. This unique
technique does not entail that content is not valuable. Fairly, content achievement and problem
solving work in tandem when students are restricted to design questions and judge their work.
According to Morford, J. B. (2007), the base of constructivism and its implementations are
authentic and the quality of music pedagogy can only be enhanced through the implementation
of such practices. He reported few basic domains of the constructivist technique and measures
the impacts of constructivism for educational framework to revitalize current and expected
applications in post-secondary music education in China.
As mentioned above, All these studies were quiet helpful and will help me while writing reviews
about constructivism approach. It has helped me while addressing different research questions of
5. my research and describing reviews. I used the recommendations provided by these studies for
increasing the students’ involvement in my Pipa class. The reviews of different studies about
increasing students’ commitment helped me to develop strong theoretical frameworks.
Constructivism theory:
Constructivism focuses on the understanding process of the individual with the assumption that
each learner brings his or her own knowledge to the classroom. Constructivist practice is
designed based on this theory, which could promote student musical understanding and student
engagement and provide a student-centered framework for the pipa ensemble classroom.
Constructivism is inherent in most performance-based and applied music courses; students can
apply new knowledge immediately and receive synchronous feedback, both from listening to
themselves and from verbal and nonverbal communication from conductors and teachers.
However, knowledge-based courses such as music appreciation, music theory, and music history,
have historically relied on direct instruction and the lecture model (Crawford, R. 2019). Various
factors, including the nature of the topics being presented, class sizes, the physical nature of the
lecture halls, and the training of the faculty members, have resulted in these courses being taught
in teacher-centered, static ways. The advent of technology offers new opportunities for breaking
this cycle and bringing constructivist pedagogy to knowledge-based music courses (Scruggs, B.
2009).
Three important education theories form the foundation for this course. The central assumption
of constructivism is that humans are active learners and must construct knowledge for
themselves by using tools at hand to learn from their experiences. (Geary, 1995). The
constructivist educator gathers materials for students to use in observing, collecting data,
generating and testing hypotheses, and working collaboratively with others (Wiggins, J. 2007).
The decision to teach using a constructivist paradigm gives students the choice to follow trails of
interest, make connections, reformulate ideas, and reach unique conclusions. Through their
course activities, students construct their own understanding of music history by investigating
the topic then completing unit assignments. The resulting assignment is a means of assessing the
6. student’s understanding of the curriculum (Keast, D. A. 2009). You need a sentence to conclude
this part and introduce next one.
Constructivist approach in PiPa ensemble class:
Cobb (2005) conducted a study to measure the relationship between constructivist approaches
and the performance of ensemble class. He concluded that teachers don’t need to select either a
psychological or social constructivist point of views; rather he focused highly that teachers must
search methods of cooperating psychological constructivist and sociological domains.
Morford, J. B. (2007) conducted a study to report the few important domains of the constructivist
technique and observes the impacts of constructivism for educational framework to enhance
current and expected applications in postsecondary music learning. It is a qualitative research
where debates and reviews have been described for highlighting the importance of
constructivism and also describing how such practices can be adopted in music pedagogy and
studios. The study reported that the basis of constructivism and its implementations are valid and
the eminence of music pedagogy can only be amended through the implementation of such
practices.
Podschuweit, S., Bernholt, S., & Brückmann, M. (2016) conducted a study to measure the effect
of the students’ complexity and teachers’ class involvement on students’ learning results. They
applied coded technique to evaluate the verbal complexity levels of the students and teachers.
Furthermore, pre and post evaluations of knowledge were implemented to measure the students’
learning again. ANOVA technique was implemented to observe the effect of complexity on the
learning results. The findings reported that the average complexity level explains a large ratio of
variance. In conclusion, the scholars pay attention on the adaptation of the redirected pedagogy
methodologies intended to increase class complexity for motivating students’ competency level.
Positionality statement:
I am a PiPa player and have been playing PiPa for over 30 years. I am also a PiPa studio
educator and have been teaching PiPa students for over 10 years. My students have won many
awards. Now, I am a university PiPa teacher and have 3 years’ experience on teaching PiPa
ensemble course. I'm able to apply my rich experience in performing and teaching PiPa to this
7. project research. These experiences will help me to observe very subtle changes of my students
in the classroom. Regarding ethical considerations, I will build trust and respect with participants
to avoid their further marginalization. The reporting of less involvement of PiPa students may
create few ethical problems but I will handle it by ensuring the confidentiality of data collected
from them. Moreover, I will describe them that it is research only and noting meant to expose
your weaknesses.
Methodological Design:
Qualitative research has been applied in this study. Creswell ( ) argued qualitative research
methodology is characterized by the process of examining things in their natural settings and
engaging in the process of interpreting, describing and defining observed phenomena in relation
to human experience. I believe that this approach will allow me to conduct a more in-depth and
comprehensive study of the topic I am researching.
Action research was adopted in this study. Like Kemmis mentioned: “practice changing
practice”. The goal of action research is to enable teachers to individually or collaboratively
study and suggest solutions to research questions in their own teaching and learning communities.
This research approach could help me to examine the impact of constructivist practices on
student engagement in the classroom. It will allow me to continually reflect on the process of my
research and make appropriate adjustments to my practice, which ensure the reliability and
validity of the final research results. Moreover, qualitative studies have been applied in majority
of the education studies for collecting data which is also a main reason to implement such
techniques in this study.
Participants: Students in the pipa group class at Xinjiang University, a total of 20 women (very
few men study pipa)
Demographic information: 6 students freshman year, 5 students sophomore year, 5 students
junior year, 4 students senior year
Why you chose these participants? Because they are students of the pipa ensemble course at
Xinjiang University
How did you find these participants? They are all my pipa students.
8. What’s your selection criteria? Able to play the pipa proficiently, with an intermediate level of
performance or above.
Consent form / Participant Information Sheet: (这里该写什么？)
Data Collection
Phase One: I noticed in my pipa group class that students were not very engaged in class, the
class was very quiet, and there was not much interaction between group members. Then I also
talked about this phenomenon with my colleagues, who had found the same problem in other
Chinese instrument classes. Then I reviewed the literature related to student engagement in the
classroom. Constructivist practice was found to increase students' classroom participation and
creativity. Students’ less involvement and low creativity are the main problems which needs to
be controlled and it can be only overcome through the successful implementation of
constructivists practices (Abrahams, F. 2005).Therefore, I wanted to try to use constructivist
practiced activities to increase student engagement in a lute group class. I will get permission
from the students before I proceed with my practiced activity. This practice will last for one
semester, 18 weeks. For these 18 weeks, I will create a detailed lesson plan and practice plan and
distribute it in advance to the 20 students who will participate in the time.
Phase Two: I will conduct 18 weeks of lesson time activities for students in 20 lute group
classes. First, put them into random groups of 3-4 according to their number of students. Then
give them many themes to choose from, such as parks, subway stations, beaches, coffee shops,
etc. Then give those 20 minutes to prepare and use any instrument or sound effect to present their
chosen theme. After 20 minutes, return to the classroom to present in groups. Panelists can
explain the topics they are presenting, while groups not participating in the presentation need to
comment on the presenting group. Each week will have a different theme for the hands-on
activities, but they will all require students to work in groups to complete. In addition, I will
conduct five observation activities in weeks 1, 5, 10, 15, and 18 to collect my data. I will also
conduct a semi-structured interview with 20 students in the last week to collect their feedback on
the course, self-evaluation and evaluation of other group members.
9. Phase Three: I will analyze the data collected over the 18 weeks. Coding will be used here to
ensure the validity of the data analysis. Then I will discuss the results of the study I have
obtained with my colleagues and listen to their opinions.
Phase Four：I will present the results of the study based on my data analysis organized into a
report. Then I will also conduct analysis and self-feedback to summarize the problems
encountered in the action research or the shortcomings encountered in the implementation of the
research.
The sample size consists of twenty students of Pipa ensemble class. Qualitative methods have
been used to collect data because such techniques provide more precise data and such data
generated more authentic results (Bresler, L., & Stake, R. E. 2017). Direct responses from PiPa
students can help to generate more precise and authentic results. The data has been collected by
conducting 5 observations and 1 semi-structured interview. The five observations will be
conducted in weeks 1, 5, 10, 15, and 18. And semi-structured interview will be conducted at the
end of the semester. Students’ confidentiality was promised to keep maintain and manage. Their
name and identity would not be revealed.
Data Analysis
Trustworthiness:
The content of the interviews, observation reports and study results will be shared with all study
participants to ensure the reliability and validity of the study results.
因为这个是研究设计，没有最终执行，所以我觉得是不是不需要 outcomes？
10. References:
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literature review. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 23(2), 12-22.
Banihashem, S. K., Farrokhnia, M., Badali, M., & Noroozi, O. (2022). The impacts of
constructivist learning design and learning analytics on students’ engagement and self-
regulation. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 59(4), 442-452.
Bresler, L., & Stake, R. E. (2017). Qualitative research methodology in music education. Critical
essays in music education, 113-128.
Chin, C., and D. E. Brown. (2000). Learning in science: A comparison of deep and surface
approaches. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 37 (2): 109–38.
Cleaver, D., & Ballantyne, J. (2014). Teachers’ views of constructivist theory: A qualitative
study illuminating relationships between epistemological understanding and music teaching
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New York: Teachers College Press.
Crawford, R. (2019). Using interpretative phenomenological analysis in music education
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Garnett, J. (2013). Beyond a constructivist curriculum: A critique of competing paradigms in
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Geary, D. C. (1995). Reflections of evolution and culture in children's cognition: Implications for
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Hanley, B., & Montgomery, J. (2005). Challenges to music education: Curriculum
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Keast, D. A. (2009). A constructivist application for online learning in music. Research and
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López-Íñiguez, G., & Pozo, J. I. (2016). Analysis of constructive practice in instrumental music
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Ofsted, O. C. T. (2012). Music in schools: wider still, and wider. Retrieved November 6, 2013.
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