Effect of music education based on Edwin E. Gordon’s Theory on children’s developmental music aptitude and social emotional learning skills

Abstract

This study aims to determine the effect of music education based on Music Learning Theory (MLT) on children’s developmental music aptitude (DMA) and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) skills. For this purpose, an experimental procedure planned as 16 lessons was applied to primary school first-grade students ( n = 92) aged between 6 and 7. The experimental group received music education based on MLT, and the control group received music education following the current curriculum in Turkey. Also, SEL objectives were integrated into MLT lessons. DMA was measured with the Primary Measures of Music Audiation test, and SEL skills were measured with Social Emotional Assets and Resilience Scale-Teacher Form-Turkish. In the musical dimension of the study, although the difference was not statistically significant, it can be said that the increase in the tonal, rhythmic, and composite scores of the experimental group are higher than the control groups’ scores and noteworthy for a short-term experiment. As for the SEL dimension of the study, the total SEL skills of the experimental group showed statistically significant improvement. These results suggest that music education in this direction can create opportunities and an effective learning environment for acquiring SEL skills; however further research is needed, particularly over a longer instructional period.