Research

Dr. Scott enjoys working with in-service educators, both in one-to-one conversations about personalized practice and with groups of teachers at professional conferences. Most notably she was as a keynote speaker at the ABLE Assembly: Arts Better the Lives of Everyone (Berklee College of Music, Boston, April 2018). Descriptions of these sessions follow:

Vocal Activities for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Sheila Scott highlights some of the ways in which she uses songs and singing to build relationships with children with ASD. This begins with examples of how melodic fragments may help these students to respond to requests or reply to questions.  Building on the skills in tonal perception often observed in children with ASD, Dr. Scott then highlights activities by which children may explore their voices and experiment with vocal sounds. This is followed by a series of activities that help students with ASD to participate in music education through songs and singing.

Music Education for Focus and Relaxation

Sheila Scott provides a summary of issues around anxiety commonly observed in children with autism and shares educational materials and teaching suggestions for helping children with ASD to focus and relax through listening, moving, and interacting with others through music. Keeping with the values of universal design, these ideas may help all children build relationships through music-based activities in school environments.

Prior to her work with exceptional learners, Dr. Scott published several articles exploring constructivist perspectives for music education:

Scott, S. J. (2012). Rethinking the roles of assessment in music education. Music Educators Journal, 98(3), 31-35.

Scott. S. (2012). Constructivist perspectives for developing and implementing lesson plans in general music. General Music Today, 25(2), 24-30.

Scott, S. (2011). Contemplating a constructivist stance for active learning within music education. Arts Education Policy Review, 112(4), 191-198.

Scott, S. (2010). A minds-on approach to active learning in general music. General Music Today, 24(1), 19-24.

Scott, S. (2009). Integrating inquiry-based (constructivist) music education with Kodaly-inspired learning. Australian Kodaly Journal, 7-14. reprinted from The Kodaly Envoy, 35(1), 4-9.

Scott, S. J. (2008). Exploring an inquiry-based stance for planning and instruction in general music education. General Music Today, 21(3), 13-17.

Scott, S. J. (2008). Integrating inquiry-based (constructivist) music education with Kodaly-inspired learning. The Kodaly Envoy, 35(1), 4-9.

Scott, S. J. (2006). A constructivist view of music education: Perspectives for deep learning. General Music Today, 19(2), 17-21.

This series of articles provides a foundation for how Dr. Scott approaches her teaching.  Regardless of the age group, students in her classes are involved in activities appropriate to the topic under exploration.  For example, in general music classes, students sing, move, listen, and play instruments. This is the case whether she is working with elementary- aged students or with pre-service undergraduate students