MUSIC AND MATH RESEARCH
Does music instruction improve mathematical ability for Montessori students?
Did you know that children who study the arts do an average of forty points higher in math and science; that music education is superior to even computer instruction in enhancing early childhood mental capacity and special intelligence, that music therapists prove every single day that music is powerful medicine, tearing down the walls of silence and affliction of Alzheimer's, depression, Parkinson's and Autism (Green 1999)? Overall, music seems to involve the brain at almost every level. It is biologically part of human life and is a universal language of communication.
SCIENCE CLASS - taught through music!
The class is gathered at one end of the gym and the children are walking around in a tight little clump beating time to a deliberate drum beat.
Suddenly the beat quickens and the children begin to spread out across the gym. What are they studying? Energy transfer!
The students are water molecules being heated up by a uranium bundle in a nuclear power plant. (When water is heated, each molecule moves more quickly and further apart from the others, - a change in movement which was signaled by the drum). Later in the lesson the children shuffle along the floor, representing electrons moving along power lines. Then they pretend to be atoms joining together and breaking apart, and chant a rap about the pros and cons of various energy sources - all of this to musical accompaniment some their own. (Hoffman 2003)
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR MUSIC RESEARCH
The benefits of music have been well documented. The most recent research 'Music lessons cause faster rise in children's IQ' indicates "Music lessons taught individually or in a small group may provide additional boost in IQ because they are like school but still enjoyable". Moreover, music lessons involve a multiplicity of experiences that could generate improvement in a wide range of activities" Scheller, G. 2004.
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