Student-Identified Characteristics of Classroom Climate
in Secondary Instrumental Music Classrooms
Presented at the 2016 National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Music Research and Teacher Education conference in Atlanta, Georgia, and the 2016 International Society for Music Education (ISME) World Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. |
ABSTRACT: Classroom climate can have an impact on student outcomes in a number of ways including student behavior, content engagement, and self-efficacy. The music classroom is a setting with features unique to its content such as seating arrangements, curricular structure, instructional pacing, duration of enrollment, and emphases on various types of kinesthetic learning. If the classroom environment, curricular structure, and delivery of instruction are unique in the music classroom, it may be that characteristics contributing to its classroom climate are unique as well. The purpose of this study is to explore student-identified elements that contribute to a positive classroom climate in the secondary instrumental music setting. Results are compared to school-wide data reported by Gillen, Wright and Spink (2011) who investigated preferred learning environments and associated elements identified by year 7 and 8 students. Participants (n = 310) were comprised of students in grades 7-12 from six instrumental music classes located in the Greater Seattle Area. Findings provide music educators and professionals with an opportunity to examine how these variables relate specifically to a music setting and potentially confirm or redirect current classroom procedures and practices.
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