Second graders who received piano training, used the software and practiced math puzzles and exercises every week attained scores comparable to fourth graders. Half of these second graders scored in the top 20th percentile of the nationwide Stanford 9 test in math, and these students achieved scores on the advanced math concepts exams comparable to the Orange County fifth graders. Our goal is to show that any school can get the results we obtained, and it can be done economically. For 45 minutes two days a week, students get piano instruction from a music teacher at school. Then they use computers to play an educational game developed by the study's lead author and neuroscientist, Matthew Peterson.
Music involves ratios, fractions, proportions and thinking in space and time.
In a way, music primes the brain to learn otherwise tough concepts for kids. Finally, teachers bring the music and puzzles together for their math integration lessons, tying the concepts into standard math lessons that concentrate on a language approach. The children learn to enjoy exploring math, instead of fearing making math mistakes. Students taught with the curriculum demonstrated a heightened ability to think ahead, Peterson said. MIND Institute researchers used the advanced math concepts test, which tested skills in symmetry, graphs, fractions, pre-algebra problems and proportional math, to evaluate the children's learning.