An
Examination of ÒUnderstanding by DesignÓ in the National Music Education
Standards: Perspectives and Practices of Music Teachers and Music Teacher
Educators
Daniel
C. Johnson, University of North Carolina - Wilmington
Amber DahlŽn Peterson, Southwestern
College
Amy Spears, Nebraska Wesleyan University
Jonathan Vest, University of Tennessee at Martin
The
purpose of this research proposal is to report the work of an ASPA curriculum
subgroup formed at the 2013 SMTE Symposium. Because the new national music
education standards use UbD as a curricular
foundation, co-authors of this proposal sought to examine how music teachers
and music teacher educators understand and implement this approach to
curriculum.
Unveiled
in 2014, the new national music standards were developed using the framework of
Understanding by Design (UbD) by Wiggins and McTighe (2005), specifically to address essential questions
and enduring understandings. To guide pre-service teachers in using the new
standards effectively, music teacher educators must be familiar with UbD and how to implement it into the music curriculum and
classroom. Similarly, practicing teachers need to understand and implement
these principles in their curriculum design to apply the national standards.
Accordingly, co-authors asked: to what extent do music
teacher educators understand UbD? and
to what extent do music teachers and music teacher educators incorporate UbD in their teaching?
To
address these questions, co-authors designed a two-phase study. In phase one, they collected written responses to an online
survey from 300 music teachers and music teacher educators across the country.
Results indicated that a majority of respondents (n=170) have little or no
knowledge of UbD, and even more (n=225) indicated the
music education faculty at their institutions did not work to address the UbD model in undergraduate music teacher education. Data
also indicated no consensus on how the term ÒframeworkÓ is defined (curricula,
methodologies, standards, etc.)
In
phase two of this study, co-authors conducted and recorded semi-structured,
follow-up interviews with respondents who indicated they would be willing to
participate. Thirteen music teachers and music teacher educators spoke with one
of the co-authors to extend the investigation and provide more informed
insights. Interview questions were developed based on a review of the written
survey data. Co-authors asked participants to elaborate on their understanding
and use of the UbD framework and principles in terms
of music education, and to contextualize their responses in terms of their
university or P-12 music setting. To examine responses for an in-depth
understanding of participantsÕ perspectives and practice, co-authors
independently analyzed written transcriptions of each interview as open coding
and then compared coding agreement of the resulting in-vivo codes (Charmaz, 2006).
Three
themes emerged from the data: perceived curricular benefits of UbD, instances of conceptual repackaging, and perceived
pedagogical disadvantages. For benefits, participants largely focused on
essential questions and/or backwards design in regards to the lesson planning
process and tended to relate the UbD model to active
music making. Participants reported using many UbD
principles regularly without the specific vocabulary. Participants also
expressed some concerns with a one-size-fits-all curricular model, without room
for flexibility.
In
addition to discussing these emergent themes, co-authors will present
suggestions for further research and implications for praxis, which include
developing a stronger, richer community based on the new national standards as
framed by UbD principles.
References
Charmaz, K. (2006). Constructing grounded theory: A practical
guide through qualitative analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding
by design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development.