Children do better in math when music is added to the lesson: new study
The new study examined the causal role of music passion and student performance in mathematics. Based on the results, the researchers believe that music can make math more fun for students and help reduce their fear or anxiety about topics such as fractions. Adding music can even motivate kids to appreciate math and want to learn more.
A typical method of including music in math lessons for young children includes clapping your hands to songs with different rhythms, learning numbers and equating fractions to notes.
A new meta-analysis published in the journal Educational Studies analyzed 55 studies from around the world, which involved almost 78,000 students from kindergarten to university age.
Three types of musical influences were included: typical music lessons in which children sing, listen and learn to compose music; learning to play musical instruments alone or as part of a group; and integrated music and math classes when music was "woven" into math lessons.
Students took math tests before and after exposure, and the change in their results was compared with those who did not participate in any musical "intervention".
The use of music — whether in individual lessons or as part of math classes—has led to a significant improvement in math knowledge over time. The combination of both in one lesson had the most significant effect: about 73% of students who integrated lessons learn significantly better than children who did not have any musical intervention.
In addition, 69% of students who learned to play musical instruments and 58% of students who had regular music lessons improved their results more than students without musical intervention.
The results also showed that music helps more in the study of arithmetic than other branches of mathematics, and has a greater impact on younger students and those who study basic mathematical concepts.
Mathematics and music have a lot in common, for example, the use of symbols and symmetry. Both subjects also require abstract thinking and quantitative reasoning.
Arithmetic is particularly well suited for learning through music, because basic concepts such as fractions and ratios are also fundamental to music. Musical notes of different lengths can be represented as fractions and put together to create several musical bars.
Integrated lessons can be especially effective because they allow students to establish a connection between mathematics and music and provide additional opportunities for learning, interpreting and understanding mathematics.
"Encouraging math and music teachers to plan lessons together can help reduce students' anxiety about math, as well as improve their academic performance," says Dr. Aycha Akin from the Faculty of Software Engineering at Belek University in Antalya, Turkey.
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