My Inquiry Based Action Plan

1. My Inquiry Based Action Plan How does listening to background music in the classroom affect academic performance? Brianne Irving EDTE 301, Section 01 Virginia MacCarthy March 30, 2010

2. Why is this question important? I want my students to achieve academically, and I want to try out as many strategies as I can to help them do so. I have heard before that certain kinds of music can facilitate learning, such as classical music, so I wanted to inquire further into this to see if it is something that I can use with my own students. As a teacher, it is my responsibility to make sure that every student is getting the most out of my class and is reaching their full potential. To do this, I have to provide them with the best learning environment that I can. If music really does help improve students’ learning and memory, then it is something that I will want to incorporate into my classroom.

3. The steps I took to find an answer • I found and read four peer-reviewed, scholarly journal articles from the internet that were related to my focus question • I interviewed two teachers from Georgia Avenue Community School and asked them questions pertaining to their use of music in the classroom • I tested my own memory/concentration, and the memory/concentration of two friends who are about the same in age and academic level, with and without music

4. What does the literature say? Gary Anaka’s book Your Magical Brain-How it Learns Best says: “Research is mounting that says that music supports learning. Your own experience will tell you that music can influence your heart rate, reduce stress, make you feel better, and energize you. For students, music stimulates the right hemisphere to focus creativity and activate more of the brain.” • Can the use of background music • improve the behaviour and • academic performance of children • with emotional and behavioural • difficulties? By Susan Hallam and John Price • Inthis article, Hallam and Price mention many different studies that show the positive effects of background music. Hall’s research from 1952 found that 58% of his 245 student sample improved in their reading comprehension performance when background music was introduced. In a small study of four hyperactive students, Scott found that background music had a calming influence and that students were most productive when it played. Another study that was mentioned was Savan’s from 1996. Ten children with special needs who exhibited angry, disruptive behaviour during lessons were played music and were much calmer and more co-operative. She noted significant changes in body temperature, blood pressure, breathing rate, and pulse rate while the music played. Finally, Giles (1991) suggested that the right music at the right time can make students less stressed, more relaxed, happier, and more productive. The research that the authors of this article conducted was about the effects of providing background music in the classroom on the behaviour and performance in mathematical tasks of ten children attending a school for children with emotional and behavioural difficulty who exhibited a high frequency of disruptive behaviour. They found that background music of a “calming nature” significantly improved the performance of these children on a maths task and significantly decreased rule breaking behaviour during the study. The calming music had the greatest effect on the hyperactive children. • Hallam, S., & Price, J. (1998). Can the use of background music improve the behaviour and academic performance of children with emotional and behavioural difficulties?. British Journal of Special Education, 25(2), 88. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier Database.

5. The Relationship of Listening to Classical Music on First Graders’ Ability to Retain Information. By Erin Lewis • In this dissertation/theses (2002), Erin Lewis did a research project to compare traditional teaching methods with an enhanced learning environment, or one where background music was played. The researcher worked with 39 first grade students in East Tennessee over a six week period of time. During the first treatment, the traditional method was used. After three weeks, students were given tests to determine how much information they retained. Students then experienced the classroom with background music (classical) for three weeks and were tested after the fact. Lewis found that the traditional learning environment was significantly more effective for recalling information from reading lessons; however, the enhanced learning environment for teaching C.A.R.E (curriculum used to help students learn to read and identify sounds) was significantly more effective. Lewis also mentions past research in this area throughout the theses. Research by Chalmers, Olson and Zurkowski found that classical music played in a lunchroom lowered noise levels of students. Davies suggests that music can create a mood in us when he states that “Different music selections trigger different emotional responses.” Snyder brings the brain into this when he states that, “Neuron placement occurs for all intelligences or in all centres of the brain, depending on experience. Specialized areas are reserved for music. If children have experiences with music, those areas become rich with neurons and those neurons develop long connectors which will create stronger connection with other parts of the brain. Finally Moravcik found that “People are innately responsive to music...Music and language have similar roots.” • Lewis, E. (2002). The Relationship of Listening to Classical Music on First Graders' Ability To Retain Information. Dissertation/Theses . Retrieved from ERIC database.

6. Listening to Music: Helping Children Regulate Their Emotions and Improve Learning in the Classroom. By Lucille M. Foran • Lucille M. Foran’s article talks a lot about the research connecting emotions to music and their impact on learning. She makes the important point that the role of emotion in education is gaining increased attention because neuroscience demonstrates that emotions effect student performance. “When a student is anxious, stressed, and emotionally reactive, the amygdala responds by blocking the absorption of sensory input. Under these circumstances, information taught cannot enter long-term memory processed in the hippocampus.” She talks about Levitin’s research on how music affects brains, thoughts, and emotions. He found that music engages all sensory areas and facilitates their differentiation and development. It also activates the left and right hemispheres of the brain and helps transfer information between them. “Music exercises more parts of the brain than almost any other single activity. Levitin explains that “Following along with familiar music brings in the hippocampus and the inferior frontal cortex. Tapping along with music activates the cerebellum’s timing circuits. Performing music involves the frontal lobes and the sensory and motor cortices, and trying to recall lyrics of familiar music brings in the language area. Levitin also found that based on the brain’s pathways-from the auditory cortex, to the frontal lobes, to the limbic system, transmitting dopamine, and finally to the brain’s reward system, the nucleus accumbens-listening to music is wired to improve our mood. • Foran, L. M. (2009). Listening to Music: Helping Children Regulate Their Emotions and Improve Learning in the Classroom. Educational Horizons, 88 (1), p51-58.

7. The Cognitive and Academic Benefits of Music to Children: Facts and Fiction. By črnčec, Wilson, and Prior • This article examines the potential non-musical benefits of music listening to children. The authors examined the Mozart Effect, music instruction and background music in the classroom. Disregarding the first two topics completely, the authors believe that “background music cannot be reliably shown to enhance children’s cognitive and academic performance.” However, they have found that soothing background music in special education settings effectively focuses and reduces arousal in children. They report that some studies claim enhanced reading comprehension with background music, while others reported no effects. A meta-analysis of 13 studies involving 357 subjects concluded that improved arithmetic performance was not associated with background music. However, Hallam, Price and Kalsarou (2002) found that calming background music was associated with greater completion of arithmetic problems (though overall accuracy was not improved) in 31 children aged 11-12. They suggest that when normally developing children are over-aroused, such as after lunch, soothing music may be a useful classroom tool. On the other hand, lively music could be played when students are under-aroused. • Črnčec, R., Wilson, S., & Prior, M. (2006). The Cognitive and Academic Benefits of Music to Children: Facts and fiction. Educational Psychology, 26(4), 579-594. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier Database.

8. Talking with Teachers Teacher 1, Grade 2 class 1) Have you ever played background music in your classroom? If so, how did it affect the student’s performance and/or behaviour? -hasn’t played music in her class before 2) Do you feel that background music benefits or hinders academic achievement? Why? -probably benefits depending on what kind of music, because it drowns out other extraneous noises 3) If you were to play music in class, what type would you play and why? -lyricless, because it would be less distracting 4) If you were to play music in class, at what times would you consider it appropriate and/or beneficial to play it? -during silent reading or independent working times (ex. Journal time) 5) If you found evidence that background music helps students with behavioural problems, but has little to no effect on other students, what would you do with this information? -if she was playing music in the classroom already and it didn’t hinder other students’ performance, she would continue to play it –if it did hinder other students, she would have to rethink what to do for the students with behavioural problems Teacher 2, Grade 1 class 1) Have you ever played background music in your classroom? If so, how did it affect the student’s performance and/or behaviour? -plays music sometimes at Christmas time, the students liked it and sang along; otherwise it is her personal preference not to play it 2) Do you feel that background music benefits or hinders academic achievement? Why? -she finds music distracting and likes quiet; is unsure of how it would affect students 3) If you were to play music in class, what type would you play and why? -classical music because she likes the sound of it, and because it is lyricless (lyrics are distracting) 4) If you were to play music in class, at what times would you consider it appropriate and/or beneficial to play it? -during art, free choice/play time/centre time, silent reading time 5) If you found evidence that background music helps students with behavioural problems, but has little to no effect on other students, what would you do with this information? -try to find appropriate times during the day, would work it in somehow if it could help students with behavioural problems

9. Memory/Concentration Tests Three academically and age similar subjects, including myself, were tested using the game of memory and Stickel’s Frames under the conditions of silence, soothing music, or hard rock music. Chopin’s Nocturne in C# minor was the soothing music and Metallica’s Cyanide was the hard rock music. For Stickel’s Frames, subjects were measured on the amount they guessed right and how long it took them to answer. However, there was a problem with the chosen Frames and their consistency in difficulty, so the number of correct answers should be disregarded. For the game of memory, subjects were measured on how long it took them to complete the activity. Both games required concentration, so the goal was to see how subjects were affected by the various conditions.

10. Stickel’s Frame Game Results www.puzz.com/stickelsframegames.html Memory Results www.dltk-cards.com/memory/memory1.asp

11. Problems with Testing • There were only 3 subjects and they were not randomly selected • The tests were only done with each subject once • The music may have been too loud during the tests • Subjects may not have been exposed to the music for a long enough period • What some may consider soothing music, others may not • The frame games were not consistent and one grouping of frames was much easier than the other two. Subjects found the other two groupings to be very difficult.

12. So what did I find out? ...from the literature Opinions seem to differ greatly among researchers about the effects that background music has on students’ academic performance. Some believe that music benefits reading comprehension and mathematical skills, and while there are small-scale studies that show this, there are many people who doubt these findings. More testing needs to be done in these areas, and on a larger scale, to see if music actually does effect learning in particular areas, or if the results of these studies occurred because of other factors, such as the novelty of the experience. One thing that most researchers agree on is that music affects our moods, and in turn, affects our performance, because studies have shown, through brain scans, body functioning measurements, and other means, that our emotions do affect our academic performance. Studies of the brain also show that the various aspects of music involve using a large portion of our brains. Music helps make connections between the two hemispheres of our brain, as well as, different parts, such as the hippocampus, the frontal lobes and the cerebellum. If music has this much of a positive effect on the brain, then it is unlikely it can have any negative effects on students’ academic performance. Like many researchers say, if anything music is likely to have a positive effect, or no effect at all, on students. Finally, many studies have also found that soothing background music helps students in special educational settings, and aids in focusing students with behavioural problems who are prone to disruptive behaviour and hyperactivity. Soothing background music may also have a calming influence on normal populations, but again, more studies need to be conducted to show this.

13. ...from the teachers The two teachers that I interviewed had not played music in their classrooms before (except the Grade 1 teacher at Christmas-time), so I could not find out how it affected their students performance/behaviour. However, if they were to play music, they both believe that the best kind to play would be lyricless or classical music, because it would not be as distracting to the students. They also had similar ideas about when to play music, with both teachers believing that during independent working times (such as free choice/ center time) and silent reading times would be most appropriate. If evidence was found that background music benefitted students with behavioural problems, both teachers would try and integrate it into their class.

14. ...from the Memory/Concentration tests My results from the tests indicate that for subject 1, hard rock music affected her the most negatively for both tests, while the soothing music seemed to have no negative effect on her and even a slightly positive effect. For subject 2, the results were not significantly different for either of the tests, indicating that background music has little effect on her. Finally, for subject 3, there was a significant difference between the effects of the hard rock and soothing music, and the silence, indicating that background music had a slightly positive effect on her. After testing the subjects, they were asked which condition they found the most distracting. Subject 1 said the hard rock music, subject 2 said the silence, and subject 3 said the hard rock music. Performing these tests gave me an indication that some types of background music can slightly hinder some students, and barely affect others, or affect them in a positive way. It would be safe to assume that it all depends on the student and the type of music they are being exposed to. The hard rock music was the most distracting to 2/3 of the subjects, but not one of them said that the soothing music was distracting to them in any way. While the tests had some problems, I believe that if the design was fixed, and more subjects were used, the results would indicate that the soothing background music would have the most positive effect out of the three conditions.

15. What did I learn through this growth plan? The most valuable thing that I have learned from doing this Inquiry, is just how important doing this kind of action-based research is as a teacher. It is my responsibility to know what is best for my students, and what will benefit them. If I had never taken the time to read through articles, or ask other teachers for their opinions and experiences, then it is unlikely I would have ever known the benefits that music can have on students. If, as my research is suggesting, playing background music in my class will help students with behavioural problems, then it is something that I will want to incorporate, as long as it does not hinder other students. While there are many different opinions of background music in the classroom, so far I have read nothing that indicates that it is harmful to students’ learning. Sometimes there are no clear-cut answers, and there are many explanations and opinions to explore when looking for the solution to a question. It is my job to search through available information on educational topics, to find out how students learn best and apply it to my classroom to provide them with the best learning environment that I can.

16. Where do I go from here? I believe that the research I have done thus far is just the tip of the iceberg. There are plenty more sources that I can look at to learn more about the effects of background music. This topic is something that I would really like to continue studying throughout my teaching career, as I have yet to find a definite answer. While the articles I read provided a lot of insight into the benefits music can have, many more questions arise from my main question, such as: What types of background music are the most beneficial? Do different types of background music affect students differently? How do different students respond to background music? During what academic subjects (e.g. Math, language arts, science, etc.), if any, does playing background music benefit the most? At what times of the day are most beneficial to play background music?

17. Thank you!