I initially was just investigating “music education” within schools, and how music classes affect the students in these classes, until I found the research of Christian Z. Goering and Nathan Strayhorn that introduced me to the field of incorporating music into academic classes, and not just having them be their own separate thing. This really sparked my interest and I wanted to find out if students actually learned from using music within schools, and if it encapsulated their attention as well.
Without the research of Katherine Vaughn and Nathan Strayhorn, I most likely would have never known that the incorporation of music into academic curriculums was a researched topic. Furthermore, Goering and Strayhorn’s research study directly tested out ideas and questions that they were asking through the use of an experimental study, and this seemed like the most effective way for me to directly build evidence for all of the variables within my research question and research gap, as there were quite a few. I initially was investigating ways of using interview/focus group methods to answer my question, but by looking at the research of Goering/Strayhorn, I saw that an experimental method just made the most sense.
The choices made, such as the choice to include both a pre-survey and a post-survey, impacted my entire research process because they changed how I answered my research question. Prior research has mostly focused on qualitative data when it comes to investigating student understanding within an arts-based curriculum, but my use of a rubric within the analysis of my quasi-experimental study generated mostly quantitative data to be analyzed.
Within my post-survey, I asked a few questions for my curiosity and for constructive feedback as a teacher. One of these questions was “If you had to change one thing about the songwriting activity, what would it be?” I was hoping that this question would not only help me, but if students rated that they did not enjoy the activity, it would give me a reason why, however most students did seem to enjoy and engage with the songwriting activity and therefore most of the responses to that question did not really apply to my conclusion/new understanding. The vast majority of the responses were answers along the lines of “nothing” or “N/A”, which didn’t make sense to include in my new understanding. Instead, I chose to focus on the results that directly helped me answer the variables in my research question.
My new understanding not only provided further evidence for the possibility of incorporating music into schools, but it also shows that:
Musical integration into schools most likely has the same benefit for all students regardless of musical experience
Songwriting specifically is an effective medium for arts-integrated curriculums
An arts-based curriculum can work well within NYC public schools, as well as any other prior locations investigated
Students not only understood the material being taught but also engaged with it
The limitations of this research study didn’t directly impact the new understanding being made, but it did affect the credibility of the conclusions drawn by the method generated evidence, specifically within the New Understanding, which is why future research is still necessary to prove the claims being made in my new understanding and discussion section
My findings provided more evidence for the claim that the incorporation of creative arts-based activities into an academic classroom/curriculum is a worthwhile concept and paved the way for future research investigating this topic. If that future research is investigated, there may eventually be a sufficient amount of evidence and research proving that musical arts integration into an academic classroom is something that should be at least attempted within a public school curriculum. With my research study entering the field, I expanded upon the ideas of prior researchers and my research data stated that musical arts-integration, specifically with songwriting, is a concept that could possibly be very worthwhile in public high schools.
My findings show that there is a lot more research and ideas to be investigated within the field of arts integration into academic subjects and that if these ideas are investigated, a true and important change could potentially be made within the public school system.
My findings indicated that not only is songwriting within the classroom effective in aiding understanding of ELA topics but also that students seem to enjoy using songwriting within the classroom.
Further research could investigate how students feel about this more and also if higher engagement directly links to a greater understanding of teachings. A further study could also compare and contrast with the current curriculum, see which is better in both understanding and engagement/enjoyment.
I am really interested in both the American education system and music/composition. This process has allowed me to explore both of those passions as one and has influenced me to most likely apply for college music education programs (such as Ithaca’s program). It has also inspired me to continue research practices about things I am passionate and curious about
I handled the uncertainty of the research process by informing myself as much as possible about my field of study and modeling lots of my research on the prior research in my field. By using similar methods that previous researchers have used to gain effective data, I realized that I was able to most likely have a similar result (of receiving interesting data that answered my research question).
If I were to revisit this research process, I would have spent more time specifically planning out my data analysis process before I started data collection. If I had done this, I would have most likely made the post-survey almost identical to the pre-survey so I could directly compare the same questions being asked before and after the intervention, instead of having to develop a rubric and grading process for the same purpose (as I did). I would also have added questions about how students felt about songwriting and poetry before as well as after, to see if the activity changed their opinions towards it.
I think that the most important research skill that I developed was either the ability to quickly find relevant and reliable information relating to a specific topic or the ability to write an effective research argument and ask important questions. Learning how to ask important questions and then work to answer those questions is a fantastic skill that I will use in many aspects of my life, whether it be in the future of my educational career or professional one. Additionally, being a good writer is a skill that I will use throughout any educational experience as well as in my personal life and hobbies, such as music composition and songwriting.