Expect to hear more about the need for expanded music programs, sparked by brain child development research that suggests listening to and studying classical music can boost performance in spatial reasoning used in math and science.
In a 1995 study, University of California researchers observed college students who were exposed during a test period to either 10 minutes of silence or 10 minutes of Mozart's Piano Sonata K 448.
Spatial IQ scores jumped up an octave for Mozart's group, but students listening to the sounds of silence made no gains. And researchers went on to discover that not just any music would boost results. Test scores for students listening to new age or rock music remained flat. The improvement in spatial-temporal reasoning was short-term, but it's an interesting finding, particularly when the long-term influence of music education is considered.
In an earlier study, the same researchers compared the relative benefit of music versus computer lessons on two demographically similar groups of preschoolers. The results? Kids who spent eight months in front of a piano keyboard improved their scores on a puzzle-solving test; kids who spent the same amount of time in front of a computer keyboard saw no gains.
Is this evidence that classical music may improve kids' grades or make them smarter? Will the chant for a computer in every classroom be replaced with the plea of a piano for every pupil? Music and other non-core programs have often defended their slot in the school day by their contribution to skills used in the three Rs.
That's why music boosters are singing the praises of this brain research.
Bryan Taylor is president of EduGuide.