The Effect Of Movement On Attitudes Of Fifth Grade Students Toward Their Music Class PDF Download

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether student behavior was more on-task when students were participating and engaged in active music making such as singing, dancing, moving, and playing instruments than in passive music activities such as listening, while teacher-lead instruction, and transitions between tasks. There were 142 students participating from nine fifth-grade general music classrooms at three public schools in Ohio and Michigan. There was a total of twenty-one combined music lessons of regularly scheduled music classes recorded. After each lesson, the students filled out a five-question survey about their music class experience. Each lesson was analyzed with a fixed interval on-task/off-task grid using a target male subject against rotating peers, and a target female student against the same rotating peers. The results show that when these students were actively engaged during music class by participating in music activities such as movement, dance, or playing instruments, the student behavior was more on-task. Students that did passive activities like sitting in class for longer periods of time listening to music or instruction without being active, demonstrated more off-task behavior. For example, students that were seated at their desks receiving instruction had challenges staying on-task. Students that had the opportunity to play instruments, move around the room, or dance were more on task throughout the instruction. Physical movement was an asset to on-task behavior. The students were more involved as a class when completing an activity such as bingo, dancing, or playing instruments. Of the various music activities, there was almost 100% participation for those that required movement (dance, movement, playing instruments).