Assessing elementary school students creative-thinking abilities in music

Assessing Elementary School Students' Creative-Thinking Abilities in Music. Colleen Wong, 2013: Applied Dissertation, Nova Southeastern University, Abraham S. Fischler School of Education. ERlC Descriptors: Music Education, Elementary School Students, Performance, Assessment Music education has been part of Malaysian elementary school students and the implementation of it has been going on for many years in the school. Throughout the years, children have been fostered with creative-thinking skills that are considered one of the main components in the learning process. Music has linked students to be part of activities such as improvisation, composition, and instrument playing and collaborating with divergent and convergent thinking. This study was conducted in 1 government elementary school in Perak, Malaysia. Fifty students from 2 classes participated in this study; 21 nonintervention students and 29 intervention students. The Measure of Creative Thinking in Music (MCTM) was used to test 10-year-old students' creative-thinking skills in music. Four factors were used in scoring the measures: musical extensiveness, musical flexibility, musical originality, and musical syntax. Results of the MCTM showed a significant improvement in 3 of the 4 factors: (a) musical flexibility (p = 0.0089), (b) musical originality (p = 0.008), and (c) musical syntax (p = 0.0047). Musical extensiveness scoredp = 0.02737. The overall research in creative thinking skills has concluded that the creative thinking skills can be enhanced through the implementation of an effective teaching and learning process.