Talk at Sempre Music - Education - Technology London (UK) 15 March 2016

1. 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

2. (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

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 LeicesterMarch 15, 2016 3

4. EARS 2 PROJECT
http://ears2.dmu.ac.uk
http://cws.dmu.ac.uk
March 15, 2016 4Dr. Motje Wolf and Dr. Sarah Younie, De Montfort University Leicester

5. 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
March 15, 2016
Dr. Motje Wolf and Dr. Sarah Younie,
De Montfort University Leicester
5

6. EARS 2 TEACHER’S PACK STUDY
March 15, 2016 6Dr. Motje Wolf and Dr. Sarah Younie, De Montfort University Leicester

7. 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
March 15, 2016
Dr. Motje Wolf and Dr. Sarah Younie,
De Montfort University Leicester
7

8. 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)
March 15, 2016
Dr. Motje Wolf and Dr. Sarah Younie,
De Montfort University Leicester
8

9. What happened?
• Teacher
– Liked project
– Was helpful in development
– Interested in contemporary music
– Interested in music technology
• What went wrong?
March 15, 2016
Dr. Motje Wolf and Dr. Sarah Younie,
De Montfort University Leicester
9

10. 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).
March 15, 2016
Dr. Motje Wolf and Dr. Sarah Younie,
De Montfort University Leicester
10

11. 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.
March 15, 2016
Dr. Motje Wolf and Dr. Sarah Younie,
De Montfort University Leicester
11

12. 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.)
March 15, 2016
Dr. Motje Wolf and Dr. Sarah Younie,
De Montfort University Leicester
12

13. 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
March 15, 2016
Dr. Motje Wolf and Dr. Sarah Younie,
De Montfort University Leicester
13
7 Categories
content knowledge,
curriculum knowledge,
general pedagogical
knowledge,
pedagogical content
knowledge,
knowledge of learners and
their characteristics,
knowledge of educational
contexts,
knowledge of educational
values.

14. Pedagogic Content Knowledge
(Shulman 1986)
7 Categories
content 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
March 15, 2016
Dr. Motje Wolf and Dr. Sarah Younie,
De Montfort University Leicester
14

15. 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
March 15, 2016
Dr. Motje Wolf and Dr. Sarah Younie,
De Montfort University Leicester
15

16. What’s next?
• Study continues in larger scale with following
changes:
• Community of Practice
• CPD – cognitive prototype
• CPD – pedagogic content knowledge
March 15, 2016
Dr. Motje Wolf and Dr. Sarah Younie,
De Montfort University Leicester
16

17. References
Flanagan, 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
March 15, 2016
Dr. Motje Wolf and Dr. Sarah Younie,
De Montfort University Leicester
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18. Thank you for listening!
Dr. Motje Wolf: mwolf@dmu.ac.uk
Dr. Sarah Younie: syounie@dmu.ac.uk
http://ears2.dmu.ac.uk
http://cws.dmu.ac.uk
March 15, 2016 18Dr. Motje Wolf and Dr. Sarah Younie, De Montfort University Leicester