DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY & ITS RELEVANCE TO MUSIC EDUCATION
KZN MUS ED HOME PAGEAn educator needs to know his/her subject matter (e.g. to be knowledgeable and skilled as a musician) and needs to know and have skill with teaching methods and materials. But just as essential is knowledge of those who are being educated, the students. This includes knowledge of their specific backgrounds - educational, social, cultural and economic - but also includes ‘generic’ knowledge concerning how individuals develop their innate potential, irrespective of their specific backgrounds and environments. For this, we turn to the findings of researchers in the field of
Developmental Psychology.RELEVANT READINGS
Hargreaves, David J. The Developmental Psychology of Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
Sets out the psychological basis of musical development in children and adults (See notes on Chapter 2, "Children’s thinking and musical development")
Nye, Robert Evans and Nye, Vernince Trousdale. Music in the Elementary School. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1977.
Learning") still presents a good introduction to developmental psychology and its relevance to music education.Though somewhat dated, Chapter 3 ("
Theories of Development from George Mason University's Online Resources for Developmental Psychology
Howard Gardner and his Theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI)
Erik Erikson and his Stages of Psychosocial Development
Jean Piaget and his Stage Theory of Cognitive Development
Lawrence Kohlberg and his Stages of Moral Development
Notes on the relevance to Music Education of the theories of Piaget, Gardner, Erikson, and Kohlberg
The
Bloom, Krathwohl, and Simpson Taxonomies of Educational Objectives