The need for creativity in many fields has been growing in this information society and global age. However, in the practical world of education, there has been little change to the knowledge-oriented education practices which prevent the development ...
The need for creativity in many fields has been growing in this information society and global age. However, in the practical world of education, there has been little change to the knowledge-oriented education practices which prevent the development of individuality and creativity.
In this regard, an investigation of the effects of integrative music listening activities on elementary school students' creativity was conducted on second grade students.
Hypotheses and the central question to be addressed were as follows:
Research Question: What kind of effects does integrative music listening have on the development of creativity in children?
Hypothesis 1. The children who have experienced integrative music listening will improve their fluency, which is one of the sub-categories of creativity.
Hypothesis 2. The children who have experienced integrative music listening will improve their flexibility, which is one of the sub-categories of creativity.
Hypothesis 3. The children who have experienced integrative music listening will improve their originality, which is one of the sub-categories of creativity.
Hypothesis 4. The children who have experienced integrative music listening will improve their elaboration, which is one of the sub-categories of creativity.
To carry out the study, 25 students in a grade 2 class were compared with another grade 2 class consisting of 25 students as the control group. The study was conducted at an elementary school located in Ebang-dong, Gimhae, Gyungsangnam-do, where the author currently works.
The procedure of the study progressed in the order of the preliminary inspection, experimental stage, and the post inspection. The method of inspection used for the preliminary and post inspection to investigate the students' creativity was 'Creative Tests for Children(for lower classes in elementary school)' developed by Kim, Chun-il and Cho, Yong-tae.
As for the program for integrative music listening, 15 pieces of music for listening were selected from the textbooks of Pleasant Life for grade 1 and 2 students along with the Music textbooks for grade 3 and grade 4. This was done after analyzing all the textbooks of Pleasant Life and Music following the system of the 7th National Common Basic Curriculum in Korea.
To avoid formal and didactic teaching methodology, the program includes formative activities(drawing pictures, drawing the rhythm, folding papers, expressing as a three-dimensional items), linguistic activities(expressing feelings, writing letters, making up fairy tales, writing dialogues), physical activities(Mimicking animals, moving according to rhythms, Role playing, waltzing) and musical activities(drawing pictures while listening to music, imitating rhythms with musical instruments, making a variety of sounds with body, distinguishing a tempo and beat).
The experiment was carried out for 10 weeks from September 1, 2008 to November 7, 2008. Music listening integrated activities were brought into action with the experimental group twice a week for 8 months in the classroom. In order to take the students' level of concentration into consideration, music listening was conducted for 30 minutes during the morning free-study time and the class was divided into small groups or worked together as a whole group.
To investigate the effect of integrative music listening on creativity development after the experiment stage, the preliminary inspection was applied to the post inspection. The collected data was computerized using the statistics analysis package ‘SAS Window 8.02’ and verified the differences between the groups by T-test (Paired-Samples T Test, Independent-Samples T Test).
The results from the above mentioned methods are as follows:
First, the students who experienced integrative music listening showed a statistically significant difference compared with the students in the p< .05 control group in terms of fluency. It can be concluded that integrative music listening activities enhanced the students' fluency development.
Second, the students who experienced integrative music listening showed a statistically significant difference compared with the students in the p< .05 control group in terms of flexibility. It can be concluded that integrative music listening activities enhanced the students' flexibility development.
Third, in terms of their originality, the students who experienced integrative music listening showed a statistically significant difference compared with the students in the p< .05 control group. It can be concluded that integrative music listening activities enhanced the students' originality development.
Fourth, the students who have experienced integrative music listening showed a statistically significant difference compared with the students in the p< .05 control group in terms of elaboration. Once again, it may be concluded that integrative music listening activities enhanced the students' elaboration development.
Through the results of this study, integrative music listening activities should be considered a practical and beneficial tool aiding the development of elementary school students' creativity.