Preservice Elementary Teachers and Music in the Elementary Classroom

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.

Correlating the Perceptions of Preservice Elementary Teachers and Social Studies in the Elementary Curriculum

Elementary social studies is often viewed as less important than mathematics and reading. Although part of the curriculum, social studies is often overlooked by teachers due to testing demands. Therefore, it was important to investigate preservice teachers’ perceptions and attitudes about social studies upon entering their methods courses to determine what may be needed to enrich the course. The study’s findings suggest preservice teachers often hold negative views of social studies and fail to connect it to citizenship, the goal of social studies. The results have assisted educators in strengthening the methods courses to help preservice teachers teach social studies.