Beyond Survival: Using Games to Thrive in Lecture
Music theory presents a challenge for both students and instructors. Students enter the course with extremely varied levels of prior knowledge and are expected to become fluent with the nomenclature of the discipline in a relatively short period of time.
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Beyond Survival: Using Games to Thrive in Lecture Whitney Berry
Abstract Music theory presents a challenge for both students and instructors. Students enter the course with extremely varied levels of prior knowledge and are expected to become fluent with the nomenclature of the discipline in a relatively short period of time. Adding to the challenge is the fact that music theory is commonly taught in a traditional lecture format, in part because instructors perceive it as efficient lack of training in alternative pedagogical techniques. In order to be successful, a teaching approach for music theory (and other courses with similar characteristics) needs to be both efficient and effective. Theory Survivor is an instructional strategy that utilizes the efficiency of lecture and capitalizes on the academic and social benefits of cooperative learning with the added motivational benefits of a games-based approach. This strategy has an innate popular appeal and capitalizes on group cohesion, extrinsic rewards, and positive peer pressure as motivational factors. Theory Survivor goes beyond mere survival to produce a rich educational environment within which students thrive.
2.1 Prelude It is the beginning of a typical day on Music Theory Island. My students enter the classroom and take their seats in one of the several small, circular groupings of desks. They greet the other members of their tribes, get out their homework for me to check, and await instructions for the daily challenge. Today, I give a brief review lecture to the large group and answer any questions the students have about their homework assignment. I then post the challenge on the large screen at the front. Today, the challenge consists of several lines from a workbook page on key signatures. The tribe leaders answer any additional questions from their fellow W. Berry (&) University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, USA e-mail: [email protected] Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015 M. Li and Y. Zhao (eds.), Exploring Learning & Teaching in Higher Education, New Frontiers of Educational Research, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-55352-3_2
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members and make sure everyone understands the task at hand. Then, the ‘‘beep’’ of stopwatches being started, followed by the furious scratching of pencils on paper, can be heard throughout the room as the serious business of the challenge begins. As the class progresses, excited chatter, peer teaching, and occasional eruptions of laughter can be heard as the students work their way through the challenge. A typical comment often overheard at this stage in the class is something like, ‘‘I know it. I just need to know it FASTER!’’ Any expressions of frustration or lack of understanding are met with sympathetic reactions from tribe members and often followed up with further explanation or helpful suggestions. Amid the often chaotic looking and sounding scene, I circulate offering help and encouragement as needed, but more often simply observing and staying out of the way. To an unfamiliar observer, the r
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