Proposal of a Design Direction for a Music Curriculum Through Analysis of Korean Elementary School Students' Perceptions of the Goals, Contents, Methods, and Evaluations of Music Classes

Abstract

The curriculum must be structured at the level and perspective of the students because the it is for students' learning. In this regard, the purpose of this study is to propose a design direction for the elementary school music curriculum by analyzing the perceptions of elementary school students in grades 5-6 toward school music classes. For this purpose, observation, interview, and checklist methods were conducted for 16 elementary school students to analyze students' perceptions of the goals, contents, methods, and evaluations of school music classes. The learning attitude of the students participating in the school music class was observed for one month, and an interview was conducted in groups to collect the students' free thoughts about the music class. Then, a checklist method was implemented to check the contents and methods of things that should be emphasized or preferred in the music class. The recognition results of students are as follows. First, they wanted music classes that were closely related to their lives. Second, listening to music was preferred along with performing music. Third, they wanted to experience a variety of music genres. Fourth, they wanted a fun music class. Fifth, they wanted the class to be more active when using digital devices. In conclusion, it is necessary to organize all music areas to be connected to life, to experience various genres of music content, and to use more active and interesting methods such as digital. In addition, it was confirmed that the curriculum should be composed of music learning linked to life and various fields.