Can listening to music help a child academically?

Question

If a student is listening to music while doing homework, can the turn out of the grade be better? Or worse? If you know from experiance, then please help, because this is for the newspaper...

Answer 1

It really depends on the kid...my husband has to have some sort of noise going on to help him concentrate and I have to have absolute silence or else I get distracted and can't learn anything.

But, in my psyc class last semester, I wrote a paper about the Mozart effect, the theory that classical music makes you smarter and there is absolutely no proof that this is true. So, if your child prefers silence when he/she is studying, insisting on playing music in the background is going to hinder more than it's going to help.

Answer 2

Music can be worse because the student will get distracted... such as singing along with the song and not focusing on work. However, songs that are wordless and not too strange for the ears could possibly be okay. However, it's best to not be distracted.. .However, from experience, listening to tv or music in another language is something that I could always block out of my mind because I didn't understand it in the first place. It's best though to focus on doing one thing. Some people are able to block the music out of their head but it's not very successful for many. Music should be kept for relaxation and reward, or when thinking is not required so much, like art. Art could be enhanced by music and maybe a few other meaningless assingments could also use a kick.

Answer 3

Classical music apparently allows the mind (at any age) to achieve what has been called 'alpha state' where learning etc are accelerated.

Do a google for it - I believe it said that a kindergarten class was compressed (for time) and the children all completed the grade (stress free) in a little under 3 months listening to classical music.

It's a very interesting read, although I have no physical proof myself - we used classical music through headphones on my wife's belly when she was pregnant.. my daughter is only 2 months old so I'd say it's a little early to tell.

Hope some of this information helps, in any case.

Answer 4

It depends on the sensory needs of the child. I have read that boys sometimes do better with background music during homework time than girls. However, auditory processing while doing work requiring concentration is in an individual's white/grey brain matter's wiring. Occupational therapists call it sensory integration. I have written for a magazine, SI Focus, on this matter, as my son has several disabilities, and is high functioning despite missing his corpus callosum. I believe sensory integration is the key to all learning, and if you want your question answered in more detail, check out Sensory International's website, or the work done by Jean Ayres. Cognitive processing is at the top of the Sensory Integration pyramid, and there is much that goes into learning, that rests on the base of the stimulation of the senses of proprioception, tactile, and vestibular senses. Also see Carol Kranowitz's work, the Out of Sync Child.

Answer 5

This question is debattable. However, after an day full of stress for children; Music can be a way of disconnecting and relieving stress.
Have Music avaiable to soozes the mind of a child not Music that stirs it up. I would recomment Music like symphonies with smoothing tones. Or Meditation tapes.

Answer 6

I would think that the music would be a distraction from the homework. However, it has been proven that children that play and listen to music are better academically.

Answer 7

I think it depends on the person and their mood. Plenty of work can be done while listening to music, but it can be distracting at times. I do know that studies have been done that show that playing music helps students academically....

Answer 8

yeah it does. Try letting them listen to there own music but make sure that its not in headphones, like a IPOD or MP3 player. Draw out the boundaries like no KORN or something super hard, but maybe Red hot chili Pepers, Ciara, something thats kinda slower and not raging hard music... Let your kid be themselves and let them grow as they choose. Some kids work better without music and some work better with...

Answer 9

I dont think a child should listen to music why during home work. They should focus on there home work, That is my input.

Answer 10

yes. it can. classical music is proven to enhance learning capabilities. it is a really good idea to get your child involved in playing an instrument of some sort (i would suggest piano).