Preservice Elementary Teachers and Music in the Elementary Classroom

Abstract

The purpose of this pretest-posttest study was to investigate elementary preservice teachers’ perceptions of and level of comfort with music in the elementary classroom after enrolling in an online music integration course. Participants were preservice elementary teachers (N = 93) enrolled in three sections of an online music integration course at a large university in Southern California. Results showed significant differences in participants’ agreement with aspects of music teaching, comfort with music, and music integration. Findings also indicated significant differences in participants’ rankings of musical outcomes in an elementary setting. There were no significant differences found among participants’ ranking of music and other subjects in the elementary classroom.