Student Choice: Music in Class
So I had an interesting conversation today with one of my 5th grade teachers today. Her classroom has 1 to 1 Netbooks and yesterday the students asked if they could listen to music. My first initial reaction is "no, they'll listen to something inappropriate, then we'll get in trouble by the district." I stopped for a second though and thought about myself, and how I MUST listen to music while I work. It helps me focus for some reason and is exactly what I need to crank out big projects.
An study conducted by Standford in 2007, "showed that music engages the areas of the brain involved with paying attention, making predictions and updating the event in memory (Baker 2007).
Another study from the UK suggests that people who listened to music performed worse at memorizing and recalling information than those who studied in silence (Landau 2010).
Let's be honest, both studies are relative. I would argue that the UK study proves nothing since memorizing and recalling information isn't really learning something new. In fact we know from Brian Cambourne's Conditions for Learning that students need to make choices about what and when they learn as well as time to practice and use their new knowledge. In now way does memorization help with that.
So I'm back to my original question? Do we let kids make choices about music? Do we need to regulate what they listen to?
I'll finish with this.... ask your kids! If your kids go home and listen to music while they do their homework, why wouldn't you let them do the same at school? This is where we start seeing the digital divide between school and home. Whatever kids are using technology for at home, let them do the same at school.
An study conducted by Standford in 2007, "showed that music engages the areas of the brain involved with paying attention, making predictions and updating the event in memory (Baker 2007).
Another study from the UK suggests that people who listened to music performed worse at memorizing and recalling information than those who studied in silence (Landau 2010).
Let's be honest, both studies are relative. I would argue that the UK study proves nothing since memorizing and recalling information isn't really learning something new. In fact we know from Brian Cambourne's Conditions for Learning that students need to make choices about what and when they learn as well as time to practice and use their new knowledge. In now way does memorization help with that.
So I'm back to my original question? Do we let kids make choices about music? Do we need to regulate what they listen to?
I'll finish with this.... ask your kids! If your kids go home and listen to music while they do their homework, why wouldn't you let them do the same at school? This is where we start seeing the digital divide between school and home. Whatever kids are using technology for at home, let them do the same at school.
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