The Effects of Early Childhood Music Education Based on PBL on the Music Teaching Content Knowledge and Efficacy of Pre-Service Early Childhood Teachers

Objectives The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of early childhood music education based on problem-based learning(PBL) on the music teaching content knowledge and efficacy of pre-service early childhood teachers. Methods For this purpose, the study selected 25 freshmen in the Department of Early Childhood Education at U University in I City and 23 freshmen in the Department of Early Childhood Education at H University in G City in Chungnam Province among the students who took an “early childhood music education” course as their major elective. While the experiment group participated in an early childhood music education program based on PBL, the comparison group took common lecture-style lessons focused on the same teaching materials as the experiment group and participated in workshops and discussion activities. The experiment was conducted for 15 weeks from September 4 to December 14, 2023. Data was analyzed with the SPSS 22.0 program in a t-test for differences between the two groups. Results First, early childhood music education based on PBL had positive effects on the subelements of pre- service early childhood teachers' knowledge about music teaching content including knowledge about the music curriculums, knowledge about the content of the music subject, knowledge about the music teaching-learning methods, and knowledge about the music teaching environment. Secondly, early childhood music education based on PBL also had positive effects on the subelements of pre-service early childhood teachers' music teaching efficacy including expectations for results and belief in music teaching ability. These findings show that early childhood music education based on PBL is effective for promoting pre-service early childhood teachers' knowledge about music teaching content and music teaching efficacy. Conclusions The present study developed and applied an early childhood music education program based on PBL to promote the music teaching ability of pre-service early childhood teachers, proposed a direction for early childhood music education to them, and facilitated their music teaching ability, contributing to the substantialization of music education in the future.