Psychological Issues in Music Teaching - Essay Example

Psychology in Music Teaching Name Lecturer Course Institution Date Psychology in Music Teaching Emotion and Motivation Motivation is a very important aspect in life. There is what drives every individual in doing something. Motivation represents the enthusiasm to put determination in to attaining objectives, targets, aims or goals. Motivation involves a self-regulatory framework that is more concerned with how individuals self-regulate themselves in pursuing their objectives or goals. In addition, motivation represents the force inside an individual that activates, energizes and directs a behavior towards a common goal. It gives a person the much-needed energy in achieving goals; it arouses, directs and persists a person’s behavior towards the goals. Importantly, motivation studies indicate that a cultured behavior cannot be effected unless it is energized. This indicates that motivation provides energy in attaining a certain behavior and goal. Accordingly, motivation is crucial in in executing all behavior kinds. As such, this means that changes in motivation reflect on a person’s behavior (Reeve 2014). On the other hand, emotion represents the subjective and conscious experience that is characterized by state of mind, physiological or psychological expressions (such as facial expression) as well as biological reactions. Emotion is sometimes confused with feelings but they are different. Feelings are private to an individual because they subjectively represent emotions. Still, emotions are differentiated from mood based on the period of time they happen. Mood lasts longer than emotion. Essentially, emotions and motivation are linked to intensity or energy instead of direction or information. They are associated with heat and pressure (Hascher 2010). In classroom with regard to teaching, emotion and motivation engage students in learning. They make students feel competent to do what is expected of them. It also makes students to perceive stable connections between actions and achievements. They also make students to value the subject and have a clear sense of purpose. Emotions make students to develop then urge to know more about the subject and hence work hard towards accomplishing the course objectives. As a result, they make students to experience positive emotions towards learning activities. Similarly, they also make students to turn away from learning when they experience bad or negative emotions. Motivation and emotions are important, they make students to observe the environment as promising for learning and hence they develop a drive to learn (Jang, Reeve & Deci 2010). Essentially, when learners do free up perceptive resources when they are in a position to and have the ability to affect the intensity, expression and duration of emotions. By this, they become more tenaciously in learning especially when they can manage their resources and deal with problems effectively. Together, emotions and motivation ensure that learners acquire new skills and knowledge in a meaningful way. Students would engage in classroom activities naturally if they were fun and interesting. However, they are faced with numerous activities that they do not like or they do not feel competent or are not interested. As such, it is significant for teachers to be aware of how to adopt curriculum as well as their teaching in order to leaners to find classroom tasks more interesting, enjoyable and purposeful as well as feel more competent to undertake them. Emotions and motivation make students to become effective learners when they understand how their motivational and learning systems work as well as how they can boost their own motivation (Järvelä & Järvenoja 2011). Differences Related To Education When Teaching Both Genders Gender difference indicates that it is difficult to separate learned from innate behaviors, or to understand to what extent stereotyping affects a person’s performance and behavior or cognitive sex differences (Wilkinson & Marrett 2013). Research indicates that, in general, the rage of differences is minute as compared to the similarities existing between the sexes. The differences related to education when teaching both genders may be viewed as discriminatory and helpful, this depends on the angle that a person decides to view. It is important to recognize that there exist a psychological difference between the genders, these differences influence the way females and males communicate, think and behave. These differences are evident at school, playground, at work and at home. Boys tend to play different kind of games from girls, they also relate to each other differently. For boys, they are more hierarchical while on the other side girls are more collaborative. When it comes to feelings, girls are better at articulating them. On the other side, boys have a habit of answering in class more often. These aspects indicates the difference in gender (Else-Quest, Hyde & Linn 2010). It is very important to observe them when teaching and formulating curriculum for students. The understanding that girls and boys learn and think differently comes from different kinds of sources. This comprises study on the brain. Differences related to education when teaching both genders allows to contrast some typical classroom characteristics displayed by girls and boys. One of the major difference is in organization of work in class. Girls are very good in planning and organizing their work more effectively than boys are. Girls want to appear neat and organized; they are very concerned of their work (Rucklidge 2010). For this reason, they plan and organize their work more effectively. Interestingly, they are also able to apply their knowledge and skills to different learning contexts. Teachers should be keener to ensure that boys are able to plan and organize their work. Teachers should not concentrate more on girls when instilling planning and organizational skills, they should pay more attention to boys, as girls are more effective than boys are in planning and organizing (Apple 2013). Another difference related to education when teaching both genders is interaction and answering of questions. Boys are more interruptive, they answer more often than girls do and they interrupt more frequently. Amazingly, boys answer more often than girls do even when they do not know the answer. This is unlike girls who, even with the right answer are afraid of answering. Girls are more likely to ask for help, they talk in groups and they talk less in class (Gurian 2010). This is a very important aspect that teachers should take note. They should encourage girls to be more interactive, interruptive, to encourage them to answer questions more often as well as to engage them more in discussions and answering of questions. Another Difference related to education when teaching both genders is that boys over estimate their academic capabilities. On the other side, girls underestimate their capabilities; they also work harder in order to compensate the capabilities. In addition, boys act very fast and think later. On the contrary, girls take their time before acting. They think of what they are to do first before doing it. Girls are also slow in engaging in practical activities than their counterparts. On aspirations, girls are more open in talking about their aspirations, they are more open than boys in telling others what they aspire to be in life (Walker & Barton 2013). Brain development is more rapid in girls than in boys, this explains the crucial differences in early development of girls and boys. This may be counterproductive to push formal learning too early with boys. Essentially, these key differences in both genders indicate that they can affect both attainment and learning. Girls cultivate communication skills rapidly than boys. Girls and boys have different needs and develop differently. For these reasons, they should be treated differently in schools whilst avoiding the danger of discrimination and stereotyping. For example, expression and language are mutual areas 0f weakness for boys; they need additional help in mastering written language, in expressing themselves verbally as well as enjoying reading. Teachers should formulate strategies aimed at increasing reading levels for boys (Klassen & Chiu 2010). Does Maturing And Aging Affect Learning? Human beings begin learning at birth and continue this process throughout their life. However, how much a person learns as well as the value of the knowledge gained varies from one individual to another (Walsh & Diller 2011). Learning is mostly associated with young age. Importantly, there is also adult learning. Learning is across all age brackets, as it does not stop. There are physiological aspects of aging associated with learning. As a person ages chronologically, the physical aspect changes such as hearing ability and reduced vision. In addition, other age related factors affect cognitive functioning as well. These factors are such as decreased neurotransmitters, depression, impaired blood circulation, chronic illness and stress. It is very important to note that aging reduces learning ability. However, the decline is about speed of learning and not intellectual power as Bower & Andersen (2012) observes. For most individuals, learning accelerates and peaks at a young age and then it tends to taper off slowly. However, this might be ultimately deficient and too simplistic to describe how aging affects learning. On the other hand, maturity is an essential aspect that influences learning. Maturing is a natural process that is mostly determined by internal factors. Maturation is biologically predetermined, external stimuli are not essential. Significantly, learning is bring about change to an individual. A person increases in knowledge and skills, these aspects makes a person to change. This is the reason why learning is a strong change agent. The learning process is necessitated by stimuli from without. A person’s behavior changes or matures when a behavior sequence develops through regular stages (Oh et al., 2010). Notably, the changes are not categorized as learning. For instance, a child learns to talk only when he reaches a certain age in maturing. The child does not learn the language simply because he attains that specific age. The child learns the language that he hears. Thus, maturity and learning are very closely related (Cruikshank 2013). Spalek (2012) asserts that maturing enhances the process of learning but learning does not facilitate maturing. Learning is more effective when a person reaches a suitable maturity. Conversely, learning only takes place when the stage for that specific type of learning has been attained through a process of maturation (Friedrich & Friederici 2010). It is therefore necessary for teachers to differentiate maturation development with changes due to learning. Changes due to learning is not maturity. For instance, the typical human brain develops with age; this is termed as a maturation process. However, our habits and knowledge are gained through inducement response tasks or in other words learning. Maturity is essential for learning. Before learning anything, the motor, sensory and the nervous structure should reach a certain level of maturity (Eppinger & Kray 2011). For instance, an infant cannot be made to run sim0ply because he has not yet reached the appropriate maturity. This is a very good example and a model illustrating that maturity affects learning. What Should Teachers Be Aware Of When Teaching Mature Aged Students’ Music? As aged students, they have life experiences that gives them a different perspective to learning music. One of the aspects that teacher should be aware of is the wealth of life skills that these students carry with them, this wealth of skills would contribute to the music course that would eventually benefit them and other students in learning music as Rogers & Horrocks (2010) points. Importantly, the teacher should provide a wide range of programs designed to ensure the transition to learning music is as smooth as possible. This is one particular area that the teacher should be aware of such programs would help aged students to transition easily to learning music. Aged students are used to learning of various things and accumulating vast experience on the same. However, learning music is different altogether. They need to learn things they have never heard; they need to adjust their voices and such things. This is the reason why the teacher should be aware of these aspects (McCune et al., 2010). Another aspect that the teacher should be aware of is the peed of learning. Mature aged students tend to learn slowly as compared to young students. It is therefore plausible for the teacher to ensure that he or she teaches at the speed at which the students are comfortable with and that they are able to understand and comprehend (Kukulska-Hulme et al., 2011). Mature aged students understand better and their reasoning is better and higher than young students are. As such, the teacher should program notes, course materials and curriculum in a manner that reflects their reasoning, speed of learning and understanding. Another aspect that the teacher should be aware of is the mode of study. Most mature aged students are established in their careers and working towards improving their value. As such, they may not have the same time of studying. Again, they may have limited time of learning. Moreover, some matured aged students may prefer remedial while other choose social, special education and reading (Siegle, Moore, Mann & Wilson 2010). The teacher should be aware of these factors as they have significant bearing to mature aged students. They need enough time to read, understand, comprehend and reason. References Apple, M. W, 2013, Teachers and texts: A political economy of class and gender relations in education. Routledge. Bower, J. D., & Andersen, G. J., 2012 aging, perceptual learning, and changes in efficiency of motion processing. Vision research, 61, 144-156. Cruikshank, M., 2013, learning to be old: Gender, culture, and aging. Rowman & Littlefield. Else-Quest, N. M., Hyde, J. S., & Linn, M. C., 2010, Cross-national patterns of gender differences in mathematics: a meta-analysis. Psychological bulletin, 136(1), 103. Eppinger, B., & Kray, J., 2011, to choose or to avoid age differences in learning from positive and negative feedback. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 23(1), 41-52. Friedrich, M., & Friederici, A. D., 2010, Maturing brain mechanisms and developing behavioral language skills. Brain and language, 114(2), 66-71. Gurian, M., 2010 Boys and girls learn differently! A guide for teachers and parents. John Wiley & Sons. Hascher, T., 2010, Learning and Emotion: perspectives for theory and research. European Educational Research Journal, 9(1), 13-28. Jang, H., Reeve, J., & Deci, E. L., 2010, Engaging students in learning activities: It is not autonomy support or structure but autonomy support and structure. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102(3), 588. Järvelä, S., & Järvenoja, H., 2011, socially constructed self-regulated learning and motivation regulation in collaborative learning groups. Teachers College Record, 113(2), 350-374. Klassen, R. M., & Chiu, M. M., 2010, Effects on teachers' self-efficacy and job satisfaction: Teacher gender, years of experience, and job stress. Journal of educational Psychology, 102(3), 741. Kukulska-Hulme, A., Pettit, J., Bradley, L., Carvalho, A. A., Herrington, A., Kennedy, D., & Walker, A., 2011, Mature students using mobile devices in life and learning. McCune, V., Hounsell, J., Christie, H., Cree, V. E., & Tett, L., 2010, Mature and younger students' reasons for making the transition from further education into higher education. Teaching in Higher Education, 15(6), 691-702. Oh, M. M., Oliveira, F. A., & Disterhoft, J. F., 2010 learning and aging related changes in intrinsic neuronal excitability. Frontiers in aging neuroscience, 2. Reeve, J, 2014, Understanding motivation and emotion. John Wiley & Sons. Rogers, A., & Horrocks, N., 2010, teaching adults: McGraw-Hill Education (UK). Rucklidge, J. J., 2010, Gender differences in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 33(2), 357-373. Siegle, D., Moore, M., Mann, R. L., & Wilson, H. E., 2010, Factors that Influence In-Service and Preservice Teachers' Nominations of Students for Gifted and Talented Programs. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 33(3), 337-360. Spalek, S., 2012 Reaching maturity through project-based learning. In Proceedings of the Management, Knowledge and Learning International Conference. Walker, S., & Barton, L., 2013, Gender, Class and Education (Routledge Revivals). Routledge. Walsh, T. M., & Diller, K. C., 2011, Neurolinguistic considerations on the optimum age for second language learning. In Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society (Vol. 5). Wilkinson, L. C., & Marrett, C. B. (Eds.) 2013, Gender influences in classroom interaction. 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By this, they become more tenaciously in learning especially when they can manage their resources and deal with problems effectively. Together, emotions and motivation ensure that learners acquire new skills and knowledge in a meaningful way. Students would engage in classroom activities naturally if they were fun and interesting. However, they are faced with numerous activities that they do not like or they do not feel competent or are not interested. As such, it is significant for teachers to be aware of how to adopt curriculum as well as their teaching in order to leaners to find classroom tasks more interesting, enjoyable and purposeful as well as feel more competent to undertake them.

Emotions and motivation make students to become effective learners when they understand how their motivational and learning systems work as well as how they can boost their own motivation (Järvelä & Järvenoja 2011). Differences Related To Education When Teaching Both Genders Gender difference indicates that it is difficult to separate learned from innate behaviors, or to understand to what extent stereotyping affects a person’s performance and behavior or cognitive sex differences (Wilkinson & Marrett 2013).

Research indicates that, in general, the rage of differences is minute as compared to the similarities existing between the sexes. The differences related to education when teaching both genders may be viewed as discriminatory and helpful, this depends on the angle that a person decides to view. It is important to recognize that there exist a psychological difference between the genders, these differences influence the way females and males communicate, think and behave. These differences are evident at school, playground, at work and at home.

Boys tend to play different kind of games from girls, they also relate to each other differently. For boys, they are more hierarchical while on the other side girls are more collaborative. When it comes to feelings, girls are better at articulating them. On the other side, boys have a habit of answering in class more often. These aspects indicates the difference in gender (Else-Quest, Hyde & Linn 2010). It is very important to observe them when teaching and formulating curriculum for students.

The understanding that girls and boys learn and think differently comes from different kinds of sources. This comprises study on the brain. Differences related to education when teaching both genders allows to contrast some typical classroom characteristics displayed by girls and boys. One of the major difference is in organization of work in class. Girls are very good in planning and organizing their work more effectively than boys are. Girls want to appear neat and organized; they are very concerned of their work (Rucklidge 2010).

For this reason, they plan and organize their work more effectively. Interestingly, they are also able to apply their knowledge and skills to different learning contexts. Teachers should be keener to ensure that boys are able to plan and organize their work. Teachers should not concentrate more on girls when instilling planning and organizational skills, they should pay more attention to boys, as girls are more effective than boys are in planning and organizing (Apple 2013). Another difference related to education when teaching both genders is interaction and answering of questions.

Boys are more interruptive, they answer more often than girls do and they interrupt more frequently. Amazingly, boys answer more often than girls do even when they do not know the answer. This is unlike girls who, even with the right answer are afraid of answering. Girls are more likely to ask for help, they talk in groups and they talk less in class (Gurian 2010). This is a very important aspect that teachers should take note. They should encourage girls to be more interactive, interruptive, to encourage them to answer questions more often as well as to engage them more in discussions and answering of questions.

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