Abstract

Abstract:

In the article, I argue that teachers can promote their students' audial attention, in general education as well as in science education, by drawing on musicians' and composers' refined listening skills. I investigate the act of listening phenomenologically by exploring listening in its multiple forms. With reference to Heidegger's philosophy of existence, I further explore how listening constitutes our Being-in-the-world. The question whether listening to music might increase a more general readiness to audial attention is of educational interest: how can the ability of audial attention be taught and reinforced and which role does careful listening play in learning? I discuss whether teaching about sound in science class promotes students' skills of audial experience and whether attentive listening trained in music education is applicable in general education or in science education. Promoting listening skills in science education is discussed in four themes: learning from listening to sound phenomena, listening possibilities in science curriculum, cooperation between science education and music education, and teaching listening for openness. I conclude that there are no direct connections between training attentive listening skills in music education and employing them in science learning. However, fruitful conjunctions might be found when listening is regarded in a broader sense, as tuning in to each other and as awareness of the world's own musicality. I suggest that a variety of modes of listening should form the foundation for promoting audial attentiveness in learning. Further, to include openness in science education, we need to liberate the training of listening abilities from a mere utilitarian approach.

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