On October 21, 2025, by 9h am, will be held the doctoral examinations in Education – Supervision and Evaluation (thesis hosted by the research units INET-md and CIDTFF) of Master Maria João Pinto de Vasconcelos Lopes, who will defend her dissertation titled MUSICAL CREATION AND COMPOSITION AS PROBLEM SOLVING: Approaches to teaching, learning and assessment of Music in the 3rd CBE.
Ph.D Committee
- Prof.ª Dr Ana Margarida Corujo Ferreira Lima Ramos, Full Professor at the University of Aveiro( President of the Committee)
- Prof.ª Dr Maria Helena Gonçalves Leal Vieira, Associate Professor at the University of Minho
- Prof.ª Dr Maria Helena Ribeiro da Silva Caspurro, Associate Professor at the University of Aveiro (Advisor)
- Prof. Dr Jorge Alexandre Cardoso Marques da Costa, Senior Lecturer with Habilitation at the Polytechnic Institute of Porto
- Prof. Dr António Ângelo de Jesus Ferreira de Vasconcelos, Coordinator Professor at the Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal
- Prof.ª Dr Ana Luísa Setas Veloso, Equivalent to Assistant Researcher at the University of Aveiro
MUSICAL CREATION AND COMPOSITION AS PROBLEM SOLVING: Approaches to teaching, learning and assessment of Music in the 3rd CBE
he central issue of this study lies in the need to address emerging challenges related to teaching, learning, and assessment in the subject of Music within the 3rd Cycle of Basic Education (lower secondary) in Portugal. Among these challenges, particular emphasis is placed on fostering critical, creative, and holistic thinking, cooperation, and self-regulated learning, as well as on exploring ways to enhance these aspects. This has led to the key research question of whether Problem-based Learning and music learning through composition, when integrated, could offer viable pathways to address these challenges. In response to this issue and the research question posed, the study sets out the following objectives: (i) To establish connections between Problem-based Learning and music learning through composition in Music Education, in order to explore the potential integration of these approaches and their practical implementation in the classroom; (ii) To design teaching, learning, and assessment scenarios for the subject of Music in the 3rd CBE, based on the aforementioned integration; (iii) To implement these scenarios within an action-research framework; (iv) To critically reflect on these scenarios, evaluating their relevance as a response to the challenges outlined in the study.
As this thesis follows an article-based format, it includes three published studies: “Music Education Experiences Based on Problem Solving: a scoping study inside the classroom” (Article 1 published in Portuguese, presenting the exploratory study); “Problem-based Learning: composing in the classroom as a music learning challenge” (Article 2, a literature review); “Problem-based Learning, Composing and Assessment in Music Education: action-research in a portuguese school” (Article 3, presenting the main study). The conclusions synthesise the key findings of the research, aiming to contribute to the field of Music Education in the 3rd CBE through the knowledge generated. Furthermore, they reflect on the study’s limitations and provide recommendations for future research.
Keywords
Problem-based learning; Composing; Musical education; Lower secondary education; Action-research; Assessment.