Date
4-17-2024
Department
School of Music
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Music Education (PhD)
Chair
Nathan Street
Keywords
motivation, ukulele, curriculum, differentiation, multi-age classrooms, informal learning
Disciplines
Education | Music
Recommended Citation
Moth, Jill K., "A Comparison of Student Motivation Between Two Ukulele Curricula in a Multi-Age Classroom" (2024). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 5376.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/5376
Abstract
Motivation is a topic of high interest to music educators as they attempt to understand what makes their students want to continue learning. The use of the ukulele in the music classroom has grown over the last ten years due to its versatility. Despite its popularity and music educators’ support for its use, very little research exists on students’ motivation while playing it in a general music classroom setting. Therefore, the purpose of this current study is to compare the motivation levels of two groups of multi-age fourth through sixth-grade students learning the ukulele via different curricula in the music classroom. A quantitative MANOVA design method compared the motivation levels of students experiencing two different ukulele curricula. The study collected quantitative data from (N = 175) fourth through sixth-grade students at Maria Montessori School in Rockford, IL through an adapted twenty-two-item Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI). The results indicated that there was a significant difference in motivation between students who experienced the Quaver Music curriculum and students who experienced the Music Will curriculum. The largest contributor to the difference is the Pressure-Tension subcategory, which leads one to conclude that students who experience lower levels of Pressure-Tension experience higher levels of overall motivation. Activities that promote lower levels of Pressure-Tension should be utilized in the classroom.