The Shock of Theory: Graduate Music Education Students Encounter Curriculum Thought and Reimagine Practice

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 7:45 am - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Curricular Perspectives in Music Teacher Education

Abstract

Too often, music education students engage with curriculum only as recipients of predetermined content, with little opportunity to explore its design, complexity, or transformative potential. This study underscores the importance of providing students with lived, dialogic experiences in curriculum design—experiences that invite philosophical inquiry and relational engagement as central to rethinking the purposes and possibilities of teaching and learning. In a summer course rooted in curriculum theory and collaborative design, students came to see curriculum not as a fixed product, but as something that lives in bodies, conversations, and ethical encounters. Interviews revealed four themes: curricular reimagination, ethical responsibility, embodied learning, and the negotiation of professional identity. These experiences prompted students to question dominant models and envision more responsive, imaginative practices.

Authors

• Cathy L. Benedict, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Patrick Schmidt, Teachers College, Columbia University