Running Head: Music in the Classroom

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Running Head: Music in the Classroom

Music In The Classroom: A Tool for Success or a Recipe for Disaster?

Action Research Project

Troy Dudas

Spring 2011

Albion College

Abstract

This study looked at the potential effects of music in the classroom. Specifically, this study wanted to see whether or not music could help students focus more in the classroom while doing class work or other assignments and also see if listening to music could also improve test scores. Previous research and studies have found that in order to reach the full learning potential of a student, teachers, administrators and parents must allow those students to utilize their preferred study habit (Hong, Milgram, and Rowell 2004). The results of this research found that music may potentially be used as a motivational tool to help students stay focused in class while doing homework. This research also had strong evidence suggesting that listening to music while taking a test can increase overall mean test scores of the class. One thing is for sure, all students have unique study habits and whether or not music is the answer for all students, we must all realize that no one way is the ideal method for studying, doing homework, or taking a test.

Introduction

This past Spring I taught in Jackson High School for my student teaching experience for Albion College’s Education Department. During my time there I was blessed with the opportunity to interact with an enormous variety of students. I was placed in ninth grade biology classes with both “lower” and “regular” level classes. I was able to learn so much so quickly by interacting with the vast diversity of students, which has truly helped me grow and become a prominent future teacher. I came across many questions during my student teaching but the one that puzzled me the most, especially with my “lower” level classes was, how could I motivate these students to make the most of their time in class to not only do their work, but turn it in as well?

Like all young people believe, socializing with friends is more fun then doing any “pointless” homework assignment in a biology class. One of my main tasks that I consistently found myself doing for both “regular” and “lower” level classes was to consistently walk around and make sure that students were doing their work when class work was given. Many students who failed have the class only failed because they never turned in class work. I found out quickly that you couldn’t hand out homework. The majority of the students will simply not do it. Thankfully we have very long class periods so I am always sure to give them more then enough class time to finish assignments. I knew if I could get the students to change their in class work habits then I could change the success rate of students and possibly their attitudes toward the class.

Through a survey that I gave to students about what their interests were and what motivates them, the one common theme that came up was music. We can all say that we listen to music, may not be the same kind of music but some kind of music. I see music as expression of self and could be used as a motivational tool. Many listen to music while working out, studying and many other daily routines. I wanted to see if music could be my motivational tool for students in the classroom, so I found as much research as possible that could help me to understand reasoning for the implementation of music.

The most crucial piece of research in my eyes was done by Hong, Milgram, and Rowell (2004). They noted that all students have particular ways in which they want to do homework and assignments. However, many parents and teachers have little knowledge about the individual preferences that students may have in learning preferences. When parents were interviewed (Carter, Hong, Tomoff, Topham, & Wozniak 2000), about the homework styles and studying habits of their children, many parents were well aware of their past efforts to change their child’s studying habits. A mother admitted to frequently trying to diminish the habit of listening to the radio while her higher-achieving children did homework, even though they were very effective with their style.Hong, Milgram, and Rowell (2004) believe that accommodating students’ learning preferences increases the likelihood that a students’ learning potential are realized so that homework does not become a monotones task but a personal aid to success in school. Based on this research, providing students with reasonable personal work environments will better the chances of student success.

The next research looked at a similar concept. Dunn, Deckinger, Katzenstein, and Withers (1990) looked at how college students learning style affected their performances on three tests. They advised a group of students to do their homework and studying in a preferred personal manner while the other group of students were used as a control group and were not able to use their own preferred study habits. They found that the scores on the three exams from the group of students who applied their own study habits out performed those who did not. They concluded, just like the other research, that accommodating students’ learning preferences by manipulating classroom conditions will make homework completion more meaningful and productive. This research strongly supports the concept of allowing students to work within reasonable requests of their own personal work and learning habits.

To get an understanding how music may be used as a motivational tactic in the classroom I researched how music influences adolescents. According to Laiho (2004), music has been “associated with feelings of being in a safe, accepting and trustworthy relationship—and can be a substitute for relationships.” Therefore if adolescents have a safe and comforting relationship with their music it can be used to potentially motivate and provide confidence to young people. By allowing students to listen to music in the classroom, you are allowing them to create their own environment in which they control the song and may even meet some young peoples need for privacy. Laiho also said “allowing young people to choose their favorite song and listening to it through headphones may provide them with a sense of autonomy and personalization.”This research gave me the idea to allow students to listen to their iPods or MP3s while doing homework in class.

I believe that music can have such a large impact on a person’s identity, attitude, feelings and confidence. Clarkson and Robey (2000) support my belief, claiming that music may play a significant role in a young person’s overall sense of self. In fact, Larson (1995) found that young people listened to music more often then they watched television! This is where my research comes in; I want to see if listening to music while doing homework in class and testing can increase in class productivity and even test scores. I think that students can use the music as a study tool to help them potentially remember more information and get more out of their homework. I think associating music to anything will give it more meaning especially to adolescents.Just about all of my students listen to music while doing many of their daily routines and just like Hong, Milgram, and Rowell (2004) believe, providing students with their own personal learning preferences, in this case music, will better the chances for success in their work. The hypothesis was students would have more homework completed during the timeframe while they are allowed to listen to music then when they are not allowed to listen music. Also, students would have better test scores on the test in which they are allowed to listen to music then on the one where they are not.

Method

Participants

Participants of this study consisted of high school students in two 9th grade biology classes at Jackson High School. The two classes were 4th hour which is a Biology 3-4 (“regular level”) consisting of twenty-eight students and 5th hour which is a Biology 1-2 (“lower level”) consisting of twenty-six students.

Materials & Design

The study was performed at Jackson High School over a four-week period in which students covered various Biology topics. The materials included all of the homework assignments and the two tests that the students were given to assess their understanding of the material.

Procedure

Throughout a four-week period, students were given typical classroom assignments and tests based on the material taught. For the first two weeks of the study participants were not allowed to listen to music while doing work in class or taking a test. During final two weeks however, participants listened to music during every assignment given in class and during their test. It is important to note that no participants were forced to listen to music, however almost all participants listened to music. Those who did not listen to music at all were excluded from the study. Assignments were collected the day after they were assigned unless participants were given extra time and tests were given toward the end of each of the two week periods.

Results

By collecting data almost everyday during the four weeks of this study I was able to have enough data to form some graphs that would support my research. During the two different periods where students were not allowed/allowed to use music, the results can be summarized in Figure 1 (Percentage of Students who Turned in the Assignment). The green line represents students in the regular 3-4 level class and the blue line represents the students in the lower 1-2 level class. There were a total of nine assignments given during this four-week period. The first four were done without music while the other five assignments were done with music. The percentages of the graph were based on the number of students who turned in the assignment out of the entire classroom population that participated in the study.

Figure 1 shows that for the lower 1-2 level class overall mean percentage of students who turned in their work increased during the time music was used during class work. However, in the regular 3-4 class, the overall mean percentage of students who turned in the assignment went down when music was played in comparison to when music was not played.

Figure 1: Percentage of Students who turned in the Assignment

When looking at the second part of the data collection (test scores), a bar graph was used to show the mean scores of each class when they did and did not use music during the test. Figure 2 summarizes the results found with the test scores for each class with and without music being played. The results showed that in both class, the mean test scores were significantly higher when music was played then when music was not played.

Figure 2: Exam Scores with and without Music

Discussion

This study looked at the potential benefits of listening to music while doing homework and test taking. Based on the results of this test, the hypotheses were,for the most part, correct. The first hypothesis predicted that both classes overall mean percentages of students who turned in the assignment would be higher when music was played then the mean percentage when music was not played. This hypothesis was partially correct in that the mean percentage in my 1-2 class went up while listening to music but the students in the 3-4 class overall mean percentage went down while music was playing. The hypothesis that predicted the test scores would be greater while music played was correct for both classes.

The results of this study seemed to completely support the beliefs and studies done by Hong, Milgram, and Rowell (2004), Dunn, Deckinger, Katzenstein, and Withers (1990) and others. While my data did not support the idea that music would help all test scores and student work ethic to turn and do their assignments in class I believe that it did help prove the idea that all students are unique in the ways that they study and do any type of work! We see that many students in my lower classes did better at turning in their assignments when they were allowed to listen to music.

I believe this may be due to the fact that many of these students have emotional/behavioral problems so getting them to focus and not talk or be disruptive can be quite disruptive. So I believe that listening to music allowed students in those lower level classes to create their own personal environment in which the control the song they listen to and block out everything else that can be a daily distraction just like Laiho (2004) suggested. As for the 3-4 level students, their mean percentage of students who turned in work went down and I believe that may be do to music or iPods may be a distraction during school. It may be a temptation to play games or simply zone out. The majority of these students have a family that stress good grades and expect them to do homework. As a result they do not need any extra motivation, like my lower level students do, to do homework while in class but when they are provided with another source of entertainment like music or games on an iPod they are more likely to become distracted.

As for the test scores, I believe that is quite simple as for why the test scores were higher in both classes; music offers a form of therapy to keep many students calm. For those students who struggle with tests and have anxiety during them, music may provide them with a useful study aid that can help them remember something they studied while listening to a particular concept. As for students with anxiety during the test, the music may have kept them focused, calm, and confident.

Although the evidence supports some of my hypothesis, I cannot completely conclude or suggest that music is for sure a cure all problems in the classroom. Some of the limitations to my experiment and my data may have skewed the results from this experiment. In future studies, researchers could lengthen the amount of time they do the study that would allow for more assignments and tests, include more participants, and be sure that no test is more difficult than the other (these two tests used in this study used the same level of difficulty). Other studies could focus more on the different motivational tools that could be used for remedial classes versus regular classes.

Again, the evidence from this study does not suggest that music is a cure all for motivational problems in the classroom or a tool to improve test scores. It does show support for the fact that all students are unique in the way they study and go about daily school based activities. We all know that everyone is unique in the things they do and the same applies for the way people study and do homework. Some ways work for some people while not as well for others. The central finding of this study was that all students have preferred study habits and we must try our best as teachers, parents, and mentors to allow them to create their own safe and comfortable learning environment. This way they can take the most away from their class work and homework and reach their full potential!

Annotated Bibliography

Campbell, Eric. (2011). Jackson High School

Mr. Campbell was my student teacher at Jackson High School that offered me more support than I could ever ask for. He helped me come up with the framework of this study and allowed me to effectively utilize and manipulate his resources in the classroom to help further my study.

Clarkson, A., and K. Robey. (2000). "The Use of Identity Structure Modelling to Examine the Central Role of a Musical Experience within the Self-concept of a Young Woman with Physical Disabilities." Music Therapy Perspectives 18.2: 115-21.

In this article, these researchers looked at how important music is to many people and how many of us connect to and relate the music they listen to with their life. Essentially they believed that music is a major contributor to a personality and sense of self that a person may have.

Dunn, R., E. Deckinger, P. Withers, and H. Katzenstein. (1990). "Should College Students Be Told How to Study?" Illinois School Research and Devlopment 26: 96-113.

This study looked at two groups of college students and measured the effects of allowing one group to use their own study habits and one group not to. This study essentially supported my belief that everyone has their own personal study habit and helped me come up with a motivational tool for students to use inside the classroom, music.