



































Tonemic Substitution


 

 

13 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 

 
13 

 TEACHING OF MUSIC APPRECIATION IN BERETON  

SCHOOL APPLYING PIAGET’S THEORY OF  

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 

 

Chinyere Amoyedo-Peter & Ebele Veronica Ojukwu Ph.D.  

 

Abstract 

his study is centred on applying Piaget's theory of cognitive 

development in teaching music appreciation in Bereton 

Montessori School Port Harcourt. The aim is to discover the 

effectiveness of Piaget's theory of cognitive development to learning 

and the development of children's thinking and reasoning which is the 

key to understanding childhood growth. The method adopted in this 

study is a survey research design. The population of the study 

comprises twenty (20) children in two classes of Nursery 3 which they 

call transition class. Data were gathered by observation method. The 

result of the study clearly shows that the learning behaviour of 

children agrees with Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Based 

on the findings, it was recommended that teachers should assess the 

ranges in the concept formation of children and encourage active 

participation to assess their concept formation. 

 

Keywords: Teaching, Music appreciation, Bereton Montessori School 

and Piaget’s theory of cognitive development 

 

 

T 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts (ARMA) Vol. 15 2021 



Amoyedo-Peter, C. & Ojukwu, E. V.: Teaching of Music Appreciation in ... 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 14 

Introduction 

Developments in a child are those changes that occur from birth to 

adolescence. A lot of changes take place during this period and some 

of the abilities and characteristics developed during childhood can last 

a lifetime. Some developments in children are similar. They learn to 

focus, sit, crawl, and walk at comparable ages. One can predict this 

aspect of development, but other aspects of development vary 

according to individuals. A child that will be shy, outspoken, intelligent, 

energetic, dull etc. cannot be predicted at birth. Some factors 

influence a child's development. Peer group, community, family 

members, school, environment influences the child's thinking, 

socialization, and self-awareness. As children grow, they try to 

understand their environment, respond to people around them, and 

choose their friends and so on thereby contributing to their own 

development. Psychologists have devised themes to explain their 

observations in child development over the years. Among these 

theories is the cognitive theory. Cognitive theories focus on the 

development of thinking and reasoning as the key to understanding 

childhood growth. The well-known theory of cognitive development was 

developed by Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget and he theorized that 

children pass through four distinct stages of cognitive development: 

1) The sensorimotor stage  0-2 years 

2) Preoperational stage   2-7 years 

3) Concrete operational stage  7 – 11 years 

4) Formal operational             12- adulthood  

 

 

Purpose of the Study 

The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of Piaget’s 

theory of cognitive development on children at their stages in Bereton 

Montessori School, Port Harcourt. 

 



Amoyedo-Peter, C. & Ojukwu, E. V.: Teaching of Music Appreciation in ... 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 15 

The Problem  

It has been observed that most teachers do not apply the theories of 

learning in classrooms; some of them do not even know that there are 

theories for teaching and learning and they do not see the need to 

attend training for teachers. It is the responsibility of the teacher to 

motivate or stimulate the child to want to learn. This study will 

encourage teachers to understand that every level of a child's 

development has its teaching strategy that will ensure effective 

learning when applied (Onwuekwe: 2021, Lecture note on Psychology of 

Music). 

 

Methodology  

This study adopted a survey research design. Nworgu in Esimone (2015) 

defined "survey" as a research design by which a group of people or 

items is studied by collecting and analyzing data from only a few people 

or items considered to represent the entire population (p.173). Bereton 

Montessori School is made up of early years (Nursery), primary, and 

secondary school. It is among the schools in Port Harcourt that give 

priority to every subject including music and they have a well-equipped 

music room. This research was carried out in Bereton School through 

the help of the music teacher who spoke to the school management and 

they gave their consent by releasing a full teaching week for the 

researchers to use. The music teacher also participated in the lesson 

by observation. Two classes were used for this study out of the three 

transition classes and each class is made up of ten children. Two 

periods in a week was used for each class (Transition A and B) which 

happened to be their music period on the timetable.  

 

Theoretical Framework  

Piaget's theory of cognitive development is adopted in this study. 

Views on the nature of cognitive development have been greatly 

influenced by the work of Piaget. Jean Piaget a Swiss origin (1896 – 



Amoyedo-Peter, C. & Ojukwu, E. V.: Teaching of Music Appreciation in ... 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 16 

1980) made a systematic observation of children's behaviour, thinking 

and knowledge acquisition. He aims to discover by analyzing 

performance the quality and nature of children's concept attainment 

at a particular time in their lives. 

Onyiuke (2006) noted: 

From the childhood stage of development, the child learns to 
develop his moral attributes to live harmoniously with his fellow 
men. In the family and school, the child learns songs that teach 
morals like songs that emphasize respect for elders, the dignity 
of labour, kindness to all, hard work, cleanliness and many 
others. Here learning comes naturally and does not need to be 
memorized with stress (p. 59) 

 

The primary, secondary and tertiary reactions built on the reflex 

activities of babies, the role of imitation and internalization of actions 

to become thoughts and the place of language as a mediator in 

intellectual growth and learning skills are a few of his most important 

suggestions which are pointers to learning processes.  

 

A baby from the point of birth responds to the surroundings by reflex 

activities which are not acquired. As time goes on the baby begins to 

react to surrounding in a way of purposeful behaviour where the baby 

seeks the mother's nipple, grasping objects that come in contact with 

the palm of his hand and general body movement begins to show signs 

of co-ordination. The process of incorporating new perceptions either 

to form a new purposeful behaviour or integrating them into existing 

ones was termed assimilation by Piaget and when the child can modify 

existing behaviour to meet new environmental demands, it is said to 

experience accommodation. Piaget considered that conceptual growth 

occurs because the child is attempting to adapt to the environment 

organizes actions into purposeful behaviour through the process of 

assimilation and accommodation. 



Amoyedo-Peter, C. & Ojukwu, E. V.: Teaching of Music Appreciation in ... 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 17 

The Four States of Piaget Theory of Cognitive Development 

(Jerome Bruner 1962:37). Woolfolk (1993) explains that: 

Piaget believed that young people pass through four stages as 
they develop: the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete 
operational and formal operational. In the sensorimotor, the 
infant explores the world through their senses and motor 
activities and work towards mastering objects performance and 
performing goal-directed activities (p. 59). 

 

The sensorimotor stage is between the time of birth to 2 years where 

the child is concerned with material, objects and physical reflexes. 

From birth to 8 months, the child is limited to activities around his 

body like sucking, grasping whatever meets his body but from 8 months 

to 2 years the child directs activities towards objects outside his body. 

The movement here is directed towards achieving a goal. Children can 

imitate and represent an object in their absence like using something 

to make a car and pushing it or backing an object as a baby. 

 

The preoperational stage occurs between 2 – 7 years of age. This is an 

active stage of exploration where the child manipulates his 

environment and internalizes behaviour and actions. Egocentrism 

predominates because the child does not like to view things from 

another person's angle. As they grow, develop, and reach the age of 

formal schooling, they begin to learn numbers, letters, and objects. 

They also learn through music and by doing so they are improving their 

gross and fine motor skills which get them interested in art, craft and 

all kinds of ride-on toys. The most important mode of learning at this 

point is playing. Make-believe play of all kinds is attractive and fosters 

the development of language, socialization and creativity. They also like 

to build out of items around the house (childdevelopmentinfo.com). 

 



Amoyedo-Peter, C. & Ojukwu, E. V.: Teaching of Music Appreciation in ... 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 18 

The concrete operational stage which falls between 7 – 12 years is the 

beginning of logic where the child begins to clarify objects by 

similarities and differences, concepts of time and numbers and logical 

mental processes. The formal operation stage occurs from 12 years and 

above. Here, there is the orderliness of thinking and mastery thoughts. 

 

Abeles Hotfer and Klotman (1994) refers to Piaget's theory as directly 

relevant to music education, shedding light on the development of 

musical concepts and providing insight into the development of 

musicality and also the application of both his clinical and experimental 

techniques to the study of musical learning and concept formation.  

 

Applying Piaget's Theory to Teaching of Scales  

Most music educators support the teaching of children with play, props, 

toys, from known to unknown. Carl Orff quoted: "Since the beginning 

of time, children have not liked to study, they would have rather play 

and if you have their interest at heart, you will let them learn while 

they play, they will find that what they have mastered is child's play". 

He further quoted that "Elemental music is never just music. It's 

bound up with movement, dance and speech and so it is a form of music 

in which one must participate, in which one is involved not as a listener 

but as a Co - performer"[https://libquotes.com/carl-

orff/quote/lbs3k8] 

The two classes that were used for this study consist of ten (10) pupils 

each.  Some of the teaching aids used were gathered from the school's 

resource room such as a chart containing a ladder, building blocks, 

keyboards etc. Voice was also part of the teaching aids. 

 

Procedure 

Step One 

The teacher started the lesson by displaying the picture of a ladder 

on the board and asking the children questions like: 



Amoyedo-Peter, C. & Ojukwu, E. V.: Teaching of Music Appreciation in ... 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 19 

 What is that picture on the board?   

 Have you seen a ladder before?  

 What is it used for?  

 How do you climb a ladder?  

The response from the children led to the introduction of the topic 

(scale) and the definition of scale as "A ladder where musical notes 

climb". 

 

Step Two 

The teacher shared the building blocks to the children and they were 

guided to build a ladder with them. 

 

Step Three 

The teacher took the children outside the classroom where the 

staircase is to demonstrate the ascending and descending of a ladder. 

At this point, the stairs were labeled 1- 8 on one side for ascending and 

8-1 on the other side descending. This is to demonstrate the law of 

exercise by Edward Thorndike which says that the learner must DO to 

LEARN. He must exercise, participate, think, demonstrate, explore, 

write, ask a question, dance, and sing to learn. It encourages active and 

not passive learning. 

 

Step Four  

The teacher thereafter detaches the numbers on the stairs and 

replace them with the tonic solfa: “d r m f s l t d1” (ascending and 

descending). The children were guided to sing the tonic solfa ascending 

and descending until mastery takes place. Here, Thorndike's law of 

effect was also established which is the feedback or the effect of the 

exercise performed. 

 

 

 



Amoyedo-Peter, C. & Ojukwu, E. V.: Teaching of Music Appreciation in ... 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 20 

Findings  

The result from the classes shows that the learning behaviour of the 

children conforms to the characteristics features of Piaget's stages 

of cognitive development. It indicates that children at this stage of 

development learn by internalizing behaviour and actions. The lesson 

was taught in each of the classes for two periods in a week and each 

period lasted for thirty (30) minutes. 

 

At the end of the lesson, learning was achieved because the teacher 

took time to assess the children one after the other during the second 

period. In the course of assessing them individually, the teacher found 

out that Transition A performed better and the goal was achieved but 

three (3) out of ten (10) children in Transition B couldn't memorize the 

tonic solfa, especially, singing at the correct pitch.  

 

Discussion of Findings  

Learning indeed was achieved by the end of the lesson because more 

than 90% 0f the pupils learnt and memorized the tonic solfa. Some of 

the pupils learnt immediately during the first period and some during 

the second period which shows that the learning ability of the children 

is not the same. 

 

When the pupils were interviewed, it was found out that the majority 

of those that learnt during the first period already have knowledge of 

tonic solfa, some of them also have keyboards in their homes. The 

second set of pupils that learnt the tonic solfa during the second 

period did not have any knowledge of the tonic solfa before that time. 

The three (3) pupils from transition B that could not learn properly 

even at second period were proven to be going through some health 

challenges so the teacher pasted the flashcards containing the tonic 

solfa ascending and descending on one corner of the classroom and 



Amoyedo-Peter, C. & Ojukwu, E. V.: Teaching of Music Appreciation in ... 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 21 

encouraged the pupils to continue rehearsing with it until mastery 

takes place.  

 

Educational Implications of Piaget's Theory 

There are educational implications of Piaget's theory that can serve as 

a guide to teachers and music educators. They are:  

1. Teachers should have some awareness of the ranges of possibilities 

in the concept formation of the children they are teaching. 

2. The idea of active participants is in keeping with Piaget’s view that 

concept formulation arises from the internalization of actions. 

3. Teachers especially at the upper school level should begin from 

concrete considerations, building up where applicable to more 

abstract reasoning. 

4. Verbalization is very important.  Language aids internalization and 

consequently the formation of a concept. The verbal interchange 

between teacher and children or parents and children constitute an 

important communication channel.  

5. Teachers can use the pattern of development in each child as a 

means of assessing attainment both in respect of the child's 

progress and about the expectations of his/ her mental age group. 

 

Conclusion 

A child can only learn when he/she is made to participate in the process 

of learning. Sensation plays an important role in the process of learning 

where a child is stimulated through one or more of the sense organs. 

Sensation makes a child turn his attention to a particular situation (the 

topic) and paying attention depends on if the topic meets his interest, 

needs, wishes etc. This does not guarantee that learning has taken 

place, it leads to perception and learning begins when perception is 

achieved. All the children in a class may not learn and understand with 

the same method of teaching; some of them will require extra or 

combination of two or more teaching methods to be able to learn. It 



Amoyedo-Peter, C. & Ojukwu, E. V.: Teaching of Music Appreciation in ... 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 22 

now behooves the teachers to understand and be aware of ranges of 

possibilities in the concept formation of each child they are teaching 

and apply the suitable teaching method for the age and stage of that 

child for effective learning. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Children making a ladder with building blocks 

 

The researcher teaching scale in the classroom 

 



Amoyedo-Peter, C. & Ojukwu, E. V.: Teaching of Music Appreciation in ... 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 23 

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Landis, B. (1972). The electric curriculum in American music education: 
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Internet Source 

The ages and stages of child development: Birth- Teen.   

[Childdevelopmentinfo.com.] Retrieved 12/8/2021. 

 Milnepublishing.geneseo.edu/music-and-the-child/chapter/chapter-4 

Carl Off Quote retrieved from [https://libquotes.com/carl-

orff/quote/lbs3k8b] Date assessed: 08/11/2 


