Modest Support on the Subject

Article Link

Now this article is an interesting read. I think it's very valuable for my research becuase it actually claims that there is not enough support of music and math being connected. I think it is important for me to listen to all sides of the subject and understand why this article claims the evidence on the subject is modest, at best.

After reading the article, it seems that the author of the article searched for evidence supporting the subject of math and music being directly associated. The author could not find enough supporting evidence and therefore, assumes that the evidence does not exist.

This article is worthy of a second read, but I didn't find the article to provide any evidence refuting the idea that math and music are correllated.

Vaughn, K. (n.d.). Music and Mathematics: Modest Evidence for the Oft-Claimed Relationship. Journal of Aesthetic Education, Vol. 34, No. 3/4(Special Issue: The Arts and Academic Achievement: What the Evidence Shows (Autumn - Winter, 2000)), Pp. 149-166. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3333641?uid=3739560&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21104678001161

Musician children detect pitch violations in both music and language better than nonmusician children: behavioral and electrophysiological approaches.

I recently found a very interesting article involving children who are trained in music. The abstract of this blog revealed to me that the information this article provides will really assist with my research. I have not comppleted reading the entire article, but I skimmed a bit and read a few pieces of pertinant information that I found to be particularly interesting.

"The idea that extensive musical training can influence processing in cognitive domains other than music has received considerable attention from the educational system and the media. Here we analyzed behavioral data and recorded event-related brain potentials (ERPs) from 8-year-old children to test the hypothesis that musical training facilitates pitch processing not only in music but also in language. We used a parametric manipulation of pitch so that the final notes or words of musical phrases or sentences were congruous, weakly incongruous, or strongly incongruous. Musician children outperformed nonmusician children in the detection of the weak incongruity in both music and language. Moreover, the greatest differences in the ERPs of musician and nonmusician children were also found for the weak incongruity: whereas for musician children, early negative components developed in music and late positive components in language, no such components were found for nonmusician children. Finally, comparison of these results with previous ones from adults suggests that some aspects of pitch processing are in effect earlier in music than in language. Thus, the present results reveal positive transfer effects between cognitive domains and shed light on the time course and neural basis of the development of prosodic and melodic processing." (Magne, Schön, Besson.)

Music training has really been proved to assist students with mathematic understanding. Pitch processing and math correllate with each other. This article, along with several others, states that, "Musician children outperformed nonmusician children in the detection of the weak incongruity in both music and language." I like the fact that this article speaks to positive performance in other areas of education and that students trained in music out-perform those who are not.

Link to article for later reading: http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/16494681

Problem Statement The problem is that many elementary students with ADH

struggle to stay on task long enough to complete the requiredassignments during class.Research QuestionHow can studentswith ADHD stay ontask long enough tocomplete moreassignments during class?
Supporting Literature SourcesCaria, Andrea, & di Falco, Simona, & Venuti, Paola. (2011).Functional and Dysfunctional Brain Circuits UnderlyingEmotional Processing of Music in Autism SpectrumDisorders.Cerebral Cortex December 2011;21:2838--2849.http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/content/21/12/2838.full.pdf.Nordoff, Paul, & Robbins, Clive. (2006).Music Therapy in Special EducationBarcelona Publishers.

Problem Statement/Research Question

The problem is that many sixth grade students struggle with math and have low test scores. How can sixth grade students improve scores on their math tests?

Educational Music Thearpy

I recently found this book: Art Therapies in Schools : Research and Practice by Karkou, Vicky

(Chapter 7 - Emma Pethybridge and James Robertson)

I skimmed through several parts of the book until my attention was caught by Chapter 7: Educational Music Therapy. I could definitely use this as part of my research. Chapter 7 considers the prospective concept of educational music therapy and implementing this model with practical context, especially in a school setting. This chapter discusses the overlap between music education and music therapy and how this applies to student success, using a Scotland school and public schools in Texas who embraced this model, as examples. I also like how this chapter focuses on "practical" music therapy and how it pertains to students academically. This chapter suggests (as this chart indicates) certain coping skills that music can help to foster in children that can help them become more successful in school.

Works Cited

Karkou, V., Pethybridge, E., Robertson, J. (2009, November). Art therapies in schools.

              Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/wscc/reader.action?docID=10415822

A New Focus

After a little thought and consideration, I have decided to change my project just a little. Instead of focusing on music therapy for individuals with learning challenges, I would rather study music therapy and its ability to improve math scores. Music and math are closely related and I believe that music therapy before a grade level math test will help stimulate the mind and improve their test scores.

Music Therapy in Special Education (An Article to Read Later)

Research Article: Functional and Dysfunctional Brain Circuits Underlying Emotional Processing of Music in Autism Spectrum Disorders

I have found this quality article pertaining to my research on the subject of Music Therapy and its effect on individuals with learning disabilities.

Functional and Dysfunctional Brain Circuits Underlying Emotional Processing of Music in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Caria, Andrea, & di Falco, Simona, & Venuti, Paola. (2011). Functional and Dysfunctional Brain Circuits      Underlying Emotional Processing of Music in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Cerebral Cortex December 2011;21:2838--2849. http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/content/21/12/2838.full.pdf.

Short Summary:

People affected with Autism Spectrum Disorders seem to have a hard time conveying and understanding human emotion. Music is a form of expression that people with ASD seem to be able to relate to. Music exercises parts of the brain that are associated with emotions and is extremely interesting when observing those with ASD.

How I plan to use this in my study:

I find this article very interesting, especially because it speaks to music and helping to understand emotions in those with ASD. I plan to use this as a reference for my special education students who don't respond well to other kinds of methods of intervention. I think music may help them understand human emotion and be able to focus better. Once students are able to communicate through languages and arts, such as music, I think they are more apt to pay attention during class.