Assessing music lessons through the neuroeducational lens:

experience in an international school in Lima, Peru

Inkeri Petrozzi, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima,

Perú

Abstract

Mind, Brain and Education (MBE) is a field that relates biology, cognitive sciences and

education with the purpose of informing educational practice from a scientific groundwork.

The aim of this study was to use MBE's findings to assess music lessons in an IB school in

Lima, Peru. A list of best practices for music education was systematized from varios authors,

and turned into an assessment checklist covering three of music learning: feeling, doing and

integrating.

Teachers were informed about the main ideas of the study but not trained specifically to learn

the best practices listed in the observation form or to apply these in their lessons. They

mentioned that they actually used intuitively most of these general ideas in their daily work.

The observation form was applied in 22 music lessons with students ranging ages 5 to 18 and

covering different kinds of instrumental and general music lessons lead by 10 music teachers.

Quantitative results were complemented with qualitative information obtained from

participative observation and informal interviews with teachers.

The findings showed an overall high incidence of the practices listed. All lessons (100%)

showed a variety of best practices. The most common in all ages and kinds of lessons were

those in the dimension of doing (55%), especially "the students produce something in class"
(100%). The practices for integrating had the least percentage of incidence (43%). ​Only one

best practice was not observed (sensorial integration).

In the process of systematizing the best practices, a model for music learning was devised,

which helped both structuring the instrument and interpreting the results. In this particular

case, the results indicate that the music teachers in this school emphasize the dimension of

doing over the dimensions of feeling and integrating; explaining both the good results the

students have in musical performance and the issues they have with other musical skills as

reading, composing and analyzing. At the same time, the model helps to inform teachers

about specific strategies they could use to improve students' learning.

This study shows a simple and precise theoretical and practical framework that showed to

work to assess a variety of music lessons through the neuroeducational lens. Instead of

assessing through the outcomes (school concerts or examinations), this assessment framework

is centered in the students' experience and focuses on the process of learning, and at the same

time informs teachers on concrete ways of improving teaching.

Keywords

Music teaching assessment, neuroeducation, general education, music learning cycle, musical

brain.

Introduction
The purpose of this study was to assess music lessons in an international school in Peru

through the lens of the Mind, Brain and Education study field. For this purpose, a vast

literature on best practices for teaching and learning proposed by MBE authors was reviewed

and systematized.

A music learning cycle model was developed from this systematization, as well as an

observation form that was applied to 22 lessons lead by 10 teachers, involving instrumental

and general music lessons for students age 5 to 18. The results were contrasted with the

teachers' comments throughout the assessment process.

The model and the observation form showed to adapt to different music lessons settings and

levels, providing precise information for teachers on how to improve their teaching and

learning in the music classrooms.

Background

This study was held in an International School in Lima, Peru. This school serves over a

thousand children of high income national and foreign families, offering the International

Baccalaureate (IBO) curriculum in its 3 levels: Primary Years Program for ages 2 to 11 (Early

Years and Lower School), Middle Years Program for ages 12 to 15 (Upper School), and

Diploma for ages 16-18 (Diploma Program in the last 2 years of Upper School).

Ten full-time music teachers, who attend around 900 of students in the three mentioned

levels, integrate the school's music department. Music lessons include instrumental instruction
in small groups, mandatory from Kinder (age 5-6) to Form I (age 13-14) and optional

henceforth. The instruments offered are recorder, classical guitar, violin, cello, native

instruments, band instruments, singing and piano. The music department is internationally

renowned because of the high level of instrumental performance demonstrated by students,

especially in string instruments.

As external conditions it is mentioned that in 2014 the school passed through an external

review by the IBO and the LAHC (Latin American Heads Conference), and as one of the

results is implementing a series of measures to improve teaching and learning in all subjects

and levels. A workshop by MBE specialist Dr. Tokuhama was delivered to LAHC teachers in

2015, including a dozen of representatives of this school, and many books and guides on

MBE were suggested to the teachers.

In this context, one of the music teachers developed this research for assessing and improving

teaching and learning of her own team, initiative that was most welcomed by the school and

peers.

Theoretical Framework

Music education is not a concluded work, but a project in constant revision. The different

methodologies applied in the music classrooms come from prevailing philosophical principles

or psychopedagogy theories then verified by teachers in their practice; but are not grounded in

experimental research (Frega, 1997)​.

Faced with this, the Mind, Brain and Education study field (MBE onwards) promises to

provide teachers with an effective teaching paradigm and the best teaching and learning

practices, underpinned by the findings of thousands of scientific studies about the

learning brain (Tokuhama, 2008). The underlying principle is that a teacher possessing

precise and clear information about how the brain works is able to take informed

decisions when planning her instructional strategies, and therefore designing

brain-friendly teaching and learning proposals.

Since the 1970s, and specially with the fMRI technologies, the knowledge relating

learning and the relation between music and brain has grown exponentially (Habe,

2010). Neuromusical research was well established by the year 2000 (Gilstrap, 2015).

This new scientific knowledge showed how music affects the brain positively, thus

legitimating musical education; and also showed how the brain works while learning

music.

The dissemination of neuromyths in the media and the commercial exploitation of

pseudo neuro scientific knowledge were two phenomena that affected negatively the

credibility of MBE. These were caused mainly by the misinterpretation, simplification,

misunderstanding and, in some cases, deliberate warping of neuroscientific research

results (OECD, 2002). Serious researchers were very cautious therefore to affirm that

neuroscience could actually help teachers. But since 2008, various authors stated that

finally there was enough scientific evidence gathered to inform music educators

(Stewart & Williamon, 2008; Hodges, 2009; Flohr, 2010; Curtis & Fallin, 2014; Collins,

2013; Gilstrap, 2015; Goswami, 2015).

Proposed model

For this study, best practices for teaching and learning in general and specifically for

music education by various MBE authors were systematized in a list of 58 items. After

defining this list, a music learning model was developed mainly based on the optimal

musical education model presented by Hodges (2010), but consisting of three

dimensions or steps in the continuum of music learning: feeling, doing and integrating.

This integrative model (Fig. 1) shows how music is learned in the short span and in the

long term, providing a framework for both concrete musical activities and long term

curriculum planning.

Fig. 1 Integrative model of music learning

This new model shows the process of music learning through three dimensions, each of

which has internal and external domains and a prevailing brain processes, was used in

the classification of the best practices, in the structuring of items for the observation

form, in the interpretation of the results, and also in the creation of report for the music

teachers team.

From the model, eleven sub-categories with linked learning experiences were defined, in

order to identify which part of the process of learning was involved:

- External doing: Music and movement, imitating a model, representing music in other

languages, producing music or other task.

- Internal doing: Active mental processes like active listening, internal listening, mental

challenges, musical creation and improvisation.

- Perception optimization: Presenting a task or ability in different styles, and offering

multi sensorial experiences.

- External Feeling: The emotional environment created by the teachers. Their role in

facilitating the learning process, their positive reinforcements, their strategies for

promoting participation, their encouragement for trial and error in a safe way, their

humor.

- Social Feeling: Activities in small and big groups, activities promoting verbal

communication and non-verbal communication, promotion of respect and empathy

between peers, peer assessment opportunities.

- Individual Feeling: Relaxed alertness, personal emotional connection, immersion or

flow state, interesting individual activity.

- Attention optimization: sensorial integration, change of activities in short lapses,

change of focus point, change in rhythm, change in the use of space, use of peripheral

attention, dividing tasks or information in small manageable bits.

- Unicity (External Integration): Differentiating students by levels, interests, prior

experiences. Providing each student with a manageable challenge. Reflection and

metacognition activities.

- Meaning (Internal Integration): Relating parts to the whole, relating core to peripheral

aspects, finding tonal and rhythmic patterns, finding and relating motives, phrases and

form, relating gestures to the music. Conceptual understanding.

- Relevance (Internal Integration): Reference to an objective during the process of

learning, use of previous knowledge, promoting interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary

connections, global understanding of musical communication, understanding the

relevance.

- Optimizing memory: Providing time for processing and memorizing new knowledge,

providing opportunities for varied repetitions.

Results and discussion

In all music lessons a combination of various best practices were observed. Only one

best practice was not observed (sensorial integration) and one best practice was found

in every single lesson (students producing something in class). For the following results,
the incidence percentage was establish through calculating the percentage of lessons in

which the item was observed.

Best practices for doing were the most commonly observed, with an incidence between

23% and 100%, resulting in an average of 55%. Best practices for feeling had an

incidence between 0% and 87%, with an average of 48%; and best practices for

integrating had an incidence between 14% and 82%, with an average of 43%. These

results indicate that the Music Department is characterized by an active approach to

learning and teachers intuitively integrate a big amount of best practices in their

teaching, perception that was expressly shared by the team of teachers.

The results for the sub - categories show a higher or lower incidence of best practices in

some particular parts of the process of learning, as shown below (Table 1):

Table 1. Average incidence of sub - categories

Sub - category Average Incidence

External doing 51%

Internal doing 60%

Optimizing perception 52%

External feeling 72%

Social feeling 58%

Personal feeling 43%

Optimizing attention 17%

Unicity 40%

Relevance 45%

Meaning 36%

Optimizing memory 66%

External feeling has the highest average percentage, showing that teachers

display best practices that provide students with a safe and rich emotional environment

for learning. Best practices for optimizing memory and for internal doing were also very

commonly observed, both processes being essential for learning music through

listening, learning and memorizing repertoire, and creating music as well. Both

strengths were recognized by the music teachers with pride. Most students feel happy to

learn music with their teachers, and the various performing opportunities for students

show that they are able to make music in a high level. The high incidence of music

creation observed, an objective that was introduced in the curricula only two years

before, was celebrated by the team as well.

Optimizing attention was the weakest sub-category, with an incidence of 17%. Only two

strategies for optimizing the attention of students were consistently observed, while

others were almost not used. Teachers commented that they didn't know the other

strategies listed or felt that these were unnecessary because of the short time they had

to attend students; but they also manifested that some lessons were difficult because of

behavioural problems, specially in general music lessons and in the first years of upper
school. They manifested their interest in receiving some teacher training on these

strategies.

Best practices for meaning was the second lowest sub-category, with an average

percentage of 36%. This was coincident with one of the biggest concerns of the team

regarding the low performance of students in the IB Diploma exams, in which students

are asked to analyze and explain music. When reviewing the list of best practices for this

dimension, teachers expressed that they did not know how to turn these items into

lesson activities. Probably improving this aspect would lead to improve the analysis

skills of students and therefore improve their grades in the examination.

There were no significant differences between the types of lessons. Average percentage

for instrumental lessons was 45.6% and for general music lessons was 45.2%. This

could be probably explained by the fact that almost all teachers teach both instrumental

and general lessons.

Between levels, though, there was a slightly lower average percentage of incidence for

upper school with 36%, versus 43% for baccalaureate and 56% for kinder and lower

school. When examining the results in each dimension, the differences between upper

school and the other levels for the dimension of doing is not significant, and it is even

slightly higher for the dimension of feeling. However, there is a remarkable difference in

the dimension of integrating (38% for upper school versus 46% for early years and

primary and 47% for baccalaureate), especially in the sub-categories of relevance and

meaning.
The low incidence in relevance points out why teachers report that they must make an

extra effort to convince students to continue with their music course when it becomes

optional, and also why students want to change the proposed repertoire or even the

proposed themes for general music lessons. The low incidence in meaning reveals the

weak attention that is given to the understanding of musical elements and concepts,

which is fundamental for attaining analysis skills. Teachers expressed that this is

something that should be further examined.

Conclusions

In order to assess music lessons from the perspective of the MBE in this particular

school, an integrative model for music learning and an observation form were designed.

Both proved to serve in a variety of music lesson types and in lessons involving students

ranging ages 5 to 18. The model was useful in providing introductory information to the

teachers before the observation, in helping the observed teachers to complement the

information obtained with the observation form with their own perspective, and also in

the stage of sharing the results with them and establishing goals.

The adequacy of the model in other settings (tertiary education, particular teaching,

different range of ages, state schools, traditional learning settings, etc.) and also for

planning and assessing longer term learning (music units or even whole curriculum)

must be further explored.

The observation form does not stand alone as a self - reliant assessing tool. It requires

working along with the teachers being assessed and registering their comments and

opinions in an ethnographic way. In some ways, the observation form works as a

catalyst for awakening the ideas contained in it; thus helping teachers observe their own

practice from the students' experience point of view. Therefore, the proposed

assessment process requires the leading of a person with enough knowledge of MBE and

preparation for collaborative assessment, as well as a good understanding on how to

lead this particular process. The latter would require the development of a guide to

accompany the observation form.

Even with these observations, this proposal could serve many institutions in their

attempts to improve music teaching and learning in a way that is student - centered,

involves teachers actively, and provides precise and relevant information on how to

improve the experience of students. Even the students could be implied in the

assessment process, providing meaningful information and ideas on how to improve

their learning experience while they learn about how their brains work when learning

music.

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