Integrating music education into life science course in the primary school

This action research aimed to determine how music teaching integrated into the teaching of the third grade Life Science course could be implemented in line with the teaching stages of the course, as well as to examine the effects of the learning and teaching process on students' affective, cognitive and artistic outcomes. The research was conducted during the spring semester of the 2021–2022 academic year in the third grade of a public primary school located in the Etimesgut district of Ankara. The participants were selected using the criterion sampling method. The integration of music into Life Science lessons using a subservient integration style was implemented through four action plans. Qualitative data was collected via video recordings, field notes, researcher diary, student and teacher diaries, semi-structured interview forms, and student products. Quantitative data was gathered through the personal information form, the Life Science Lesson Attitude Scale, and the Mood Self-Assessment Scale for 8-year-olds. Qualitative data were analyzed using inductive and content analysis, and quantitative data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test, a non-parametric test, and skewness and kurtosis values were examined for normal distribution of the data. As a result of data analysis, the effects of music integration emerged under five themes: cognitive dimension, affective dimension, artistic dimension, difficulties, and solution suggestions. The findings also uncovered that music integration led to a significant and positive increase in students' attitudes towards the course. Furthermore, students' mood self assessment scores showed a significant and positive difference in the "joy" sub dimension.