The results of the study, published in the March issue of the journal Neurological Research, are the latest in a series that link musical training to the development of higher brain functions, said UCI physics professor emeritus Gordon Shaw, who led the study. Researchers worked with 135 second-grade students at the 95 th Street School in Los Angeles after conducting a pilot study with 102 Orange County students. Children given four months of piano keyboard training, as well as time playing with newly designed computer software, scored 27 percent higher on proportional math and fractions tests than other children. The study was funded through grants from the Texaco Foundation, The Gerard Family Trust and Newport Beach philanthropist Marjorie Rawlins.
Music involves ratios, fractions, proportions and thinking in space and time.
Puzzles in the STAR game allow children to apply the type of mental acuity that appears to be heightened by piano practice. The findings are significant because a grasp of proportional math and fractions is a prerequisite to math at higher levels, and children who do not master these areas of math cannot understand more advanced math critical to high-tech fields. Not only is proportional math crucial for all college-level science, but it is the first academic hurdle that requires the children to grasp underlying concepts before they can master the material. Rote learning simply does not work. The piano teaching and software helped children regardless of income level, boosting achievement of students in low socioeconomic settings.