Development And Evaluation of a Software Program Specifically Designed for Music Courses Within the Framework of Primary Education Curriculum

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the effect of computer-aided instruction on the 4th-grade primary school students' achievement, attitude, and retention in music courses. It employs a pretest-posttest control group design. For ethical purposes, informed consent forms were obtained from the primary school affiliated with the Ministry of National Education Directorate in Afyon. Turkey. The study participants are 11 female, nine male students in the control group, ten male, and ten female students in the experimental group. A computer-aided teaching software was developed for the experimental group to contribute to the 4th-grade music course implementations within the scope of the curriculum. A total of 9-hour instruction was carried out for both groups. Data were collected through achievement tests and a primary school music course attitude scale. Mann Whitney U Test and Wilcoxon Signed Rankings Test were used to comparing the groups' achievement test and attitude scale scores. The findings revealed that computer-aided teaching in the experimental group was more effective in students' success and attitude toward music courses. Also, computer-aided teaching practices were found to be more effective in student retention.