Do the Arts Make You a Better Student?
Do the arts make people smarter or do smarter people spend more time with the arts? For years scientists, psychologists and educators have researched this question.
In the 1990’s, a famous study showed that college students did better on math testing after listening to 10 minutes of a Mozart sonata. Based on that study, the state of Georgia gave parents of newborns tapes of classical music.
Despite that study and Georgia’s decision, other studies never really confirmed that listening to classical music makes you smarter.
In 2004, the Dana Foundation put up $2.1 million to get an answer to the arts question. The Foundation brought together researchers from seven universities to find out if experience in dance, music, theater, and visual arts might affect other areas of learning.
The research was released on March 3. The report does not completely answer the question but several important findings were announced.
The myth that learners are either left-brained or right-brained is now dead. The researchers found that learners were mixed in their learning styles.
At Stanford University, researchers found that students, ages 7 to 12, who came to the study with musical training did better in reading than those with no musical backgrounds. They also found a link between visual-arts lessons outside of school and children’s skill at math calculations.
At Harvard University, researchers found that middle and high school students who studied music were better than students with no musical training at geometry but no better at other math operations.
Dana Goia is the chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts. She said, “What we are seeing here is that we have quantitative data that confirm our assumptions about the interrelationships in the way children learn.”
Source: Education Week
BLOG QUESTION
Do the arts make you a better student or do better students sign up for art classes? What do you think?
In the 1990’s, a famous study showed that college students did better on math testing after listening to 10 minutes of a Mozart sonata. Based on that study, the state of Georgia gave parents of newborns tapes of classical music.
Despite that study and Georgia’s decision, other studies never really confirmed that listening to classical music makes you smarter.
In 2004, the Dana Foundation put up $2.1 million to get an answer to the arts question. The Foundation brought together researchers from seven universities to find out if experience in dance, music, theater, and visual arts might affect other areas of learning.
The research was released on March 3. The report does not completely answer the question but several important findings were announced.
The myth that learners are either left-brained or right-brained is now dead. The researchers found that learners were mixed in their learning styles.
At Stanford University, researchers found that students, ages 7 to 12, who came to the study with musical training did better in reading than those with no musical backgrounds. They also found a link between visual-arts lessons outside of school and children’s skill at math calculations.
At Harvard University, researchers found that middle and high school students who studied music were better than students with no musical training at geometry but no better at other math operations.
Dana Goia is the chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts. She said, “What we are seeing here is that we have quantitative data that confirm our assumptions about the interrelationships in the way children learn.”
Source: Education Week
BLOG QUESTION
Do the arts make you a better student or do better students sign up for art classes? What do you think?
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