Studying Music Teachers "Awareness of Students" Musical Thinking through Video Stimulated Recall Techniques

Abstract

This article examines the strength of stimulated recall methodologies as a means for capturing teachers’ awareness of student thinking. First, I address the nagging validity questions associated with stimulated recall techniques. Second, using Schön’s (1983) framework of reflection-on-action and reflection-in-action, I turn to general education research to differentiate between studies that use stimulated recall techniques to gather teachers’ retrospective points of view with those studies that seek to access teachers’ immediate reactions to students’ thinking and learning. In order to understand the differences between these approaches, I review the video technology and interviewing techniques used by researchers to meet their goals. I examine the advantages and challenges of archival and point-of-view video cameras as well as collaborative annotated video programs. Finally, I consider music education research studies that have used video stimulated recall techniques to study teacher thinking on student thinking, as well as implications for future music education research.