Congratulations to Music Education faculty member Kim Mieder for recieving the University of South Florida's Outstanding Thesis and Dissertation Award! She was one of four recipients of this years' award and will travel to Tampa, Florida next month to give a short presentation on her work at a luncheon honoring the winners. She also received $1000 prize and $500 toward her travel to the celebration. Below is a brief synopsis of her work that earned her this recognition.
Although there has been a great deal of research that supports teaching secondary level students how to direct their own learning in the academic areas, less attention has been given to supporting this initiative in music education, making this study an especially important contribution to the field of music education. This dissertation research further explored opportunities to develop higher level cognition, enhanced meta-cognitive awareness, self-efficacy, self-regulation, and processing speed through music learning. There is also a limited amount of research that explores the possibility of cognitive enhancement through music training for adolescent instrumentalists. The SRL-MPSC provides a systematic method for teaching effective practice skills in an ensemble setting that encourages a strengthening of the essential meta-cognitive skills necessary for life-long learning within the socially supportive and inclusive context of the small and large ensemble rehearsal setting. The SRL-MPSC also contains a practical and applicable curriculum for music educators to include a more learner-centered teaching environment in the full ensemble setting while simultaneously supporting performance goals, technical proficiency and a broadened exposure to advanced literature. This work is of particular importance to instrumental music directors who value saving rehearsal time while accomplishing the enhancement of musical independence and efficient practice behaviors for their students. This work has been presented at National and International clinics and symposiums with a tremendous level of positive feedback from Secondary Instrumental music teachers who are excited about implementing the music practice strategies curriculum into their daily rehearsals and classroom activities.