Research that serves: building active teacher-researcher partnerships

The impact of scholarly research in education on educational practice in classrooms remains low (Admiraal, Buijs, Claessens, Honing, & Karkdijk, 2017). As a result, educational practices in schools remain tied to practical wisdom, rather than educational theories that have been developed and tested in classrooms. This research to practice gap, as it is widely known, is attributed to beliefs that scholars in higher education tend to examine problems that teachers in schools find irrelevant. Classroom teachers contend that because scholars’ primary purpose is to publish, they tend to aim toward generalizations rather than to focus on the improvement of relevant educational practice. Gore and Gitlin (2004) argued that existing tensions between researchers and practitioners may be related to long-standing traditions of framing educational research in such a way that classroom teachers are positioned as “users” rather than “producers” of knowledge.Accepted manuscrip

New perspectives on research

The Graduate Research Session at the conference will be held on Thursday March 1st from 4-5pm. At this session, graduate students from institutions from across the state will present a series of lightning talks where each presenter will briefly share the purpose and findings of their research study, and share a few implications for music education practice. The graduate student panel will be seated in a circle in order to facilitate sharing. Non-presenting attendees will be seated in an outer circle which will then be integrated with the presenters during the Q&A portion of the session, in order promote the free-sharing of ideas between all in ttendance. In order to highlight a few examples of the exciting projects being presented, Yank’l Garcia and Nicholas Quigley, master’s students at Boston University, briefly introduce their research projects below. Please join us to learn about the fresh and exciting topics that graduate student researchers are focusing upon within the field of music education.First author draf

Competitive comparison in music: influences upon self-efficacy beliefs by gender

This study profiles gender differences in instrumental performance self-efficacy perceptions of high school students (N = 87) over the course of a three-day orchestra festival in which students competed against one another for rank-based seating and then rehearsed and performed as a group. Reported self-beliefs rose significantly for the sample over the course of the festival. Self-efficacy beliefs of females were significantly lower than those of males before the seating audition and first rehearsal, but were no longer different by the midpoint of the festival. Survey free-response data were coded according to Bandura's (1997 Bandura, A. 1997. Self-efficacy: The Exercise of Control. New York: W. H. Freeman.) four sources of self-efficacy. A 52% drop in the frequency of student comments regarding competitive comparison appeared at the same point in which female self-efficacy beliefs were no longer different from those of males. Results support past research to suggest that males and females may respond differently to rank-based competition versus social support

Playful Spaces for Musical Expression and Creativity: An Ethnodrama

Presented in the form of an ethnodrama, this paper features data from three studies to illustrate how current attitudes and practices in music education both foster and inhibit musical expressiveness and personal well-being. Stories of public school students, adult learners, and music teachers as performing musicians bring to light contemporary issues including (a) the influence of competition upon expressive performance; (b) isolation versus community music-making; (c) the impact of fear-based motivation systems; and (d) accessibility of free and creative music-making opportunities to a larger population of musicians. Experiences of high school students in an honor orchestra festival illustrate how externally-imposed achievement systems can impede opportunities for individual expressive freedom. In one example, students reported expressive performance to be least relevant of all surveyed musical skills during the festival\u27s competitive seating audition. In this socially comparative climate, student comments revealed feelings of anxiety, confusion, and distrust. Musical expressiveness reportedly increased later in the festival as students rehearsed together, and reached a climax at the dress rehearsal (notably not at the concert). Student comments at all phases of the festival revealed a pervasive belief that the conductor was the ultimate expressive and creative authority. Adult learners featured in this ethnodrama demonstrate an internally driven motivation for music learning. While some adults shared stories of emotional sorrow and self-criticism related to having been deemed untalented earlier in life, some expressed gratitude for the opportunity to learn and create music at their own pace and in their own style. Especially meaningful to this population was the freedom to choose repertoire to which they could personally relate, and the freedom to choose when, where, and how often they would participate. Encouragement and support from teachers who express belief in their capability to perform and progress was important especially to those who had negative early experiences. Music teachers asked to perform for a community fundraising event demonstrate tensions between their multiple identities as teacher, performer, scholar, caregiver, etc. Each teacher reported various levels of distress, expressing concern that they would not be able to perform at the level they were capable. Findings help to inform how current conditions within the profession might stifle music educators in their own music making, and how suppression of expressivity may translate into unhealthy models for students, and negatively influence self-care and well-being. Research findings are presented in the form of an ethnodrama to capture the essence of interview and observation data. In the form of spoken dialogue, qualitative data from the three studies are woven together into a meta-analytical story that demonstrates how these studies relate to music education practices and their influence on individuals. Quantitative data are also reported as a voice in the dialogue along with relevant visual representations. Ethnodrama is utilized here both as an arts-based research method to analyze data from the three studies, as well as to present the findings in an evocative artistic form. As is typical with many ethnodramatic works the dialogue evolves toward a “utopian ideal,” and concludes by offering positive alternatives to current practices

Resources for Teaching and Assessing the Vision and Change Biology Core Concepts

The Vision and Change report called for the biology community to mobilize around teaching the core concepts of biology. This essay describes a collection of resources developed by several different groups that can be used to respond to the report’s call to transform undergraduate education at both the individual course and departmental levels. First, we present two frameworks that help articulate the Vision and Change core concepts, the BioCore Guide and the Conceptual Elements (CE) Framework, which can be used in mapping the core concepts onto existing curricula and designing new curricula that teach the biology core concepts. Second, we describe how the BioCore Guide and the CE Framework can be used alongside the Partnership for Undergraduate Life Sciences Education curricular rubric as a way for departments to self-assess their teaching of the core concepts. Finally, we highlight three sets of instruments that can be used to directly assess student learning of the core concepts: the Biology Card Sorting Task, the Biology Core Concept Instruments, and the Biology—Measuring Achievement and Progression in Science instruments. Approaches to using these resources independently and synergistically are discussed

Seasonal changes in bacterial and archaeal gene expression patterns across salinity gradients in the Columbia River coastal margin.

Through their metabolic activities, microbial populations mediate the impact of high gradient regions on ecological function and productivity of the highly dynamic Columbia River coastal margin (CRCM). A 2226-probe oligonucleotide DNA microarray was developed to investigate expression patterns for microbial genes involved in nitrogen and carbon metabolism in the CRCM. Initial experiments with the environmental microarrays were directed toward validation of the platform and yielded high reproducibility in multiple tests. Bioinformatic and experimental validation also indicated that >85% of the microarray probes were specific for their corresponding target genes and for a few homologs within the same microbial family. The validated probe set was used to query gene expression responses by microbial assemblages to environmental variability. Sixty-four samples from the river, estuary, plume, and adjacent ocean were collected in different seasons and analyzed to correlate the measured variability in chemical, physical and biological water parameters to differences in global gene expression profiles. The method produced robust seasonal profiles corresponding to pre-freshet spring (April) and late summer (August). Overall relative gene expression was high in both seasons and was consistent with high microbial abundance measured by total RNA, heterotrophic bacterial production, and chlorophyll a. Both seasonal patterns involved large numbers of genes that were highly expressed relative to background, yet each produced very different gene expression profiles. April patterns revealed high differential gene expression in the coastal margin samples (estuary, plume and adjacent ocean) relative to freshwater, while little differential gene expression was observed along the river-to-ocean transition in August. Microbial gene expression profiles appeared to relate, in part, to seasonal differences in nutrient availability and potential resource competition. Furthermore, our results suggest that highly-active particle-attached microbiota in the Columbia River water column may perform dissimilatory nitrate reduction (both dentrification and DNRA) within anoxic particle microniches