| The Effect of Classical Music on sixth Grade Math Students | |
Researched by Brian V.
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The purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of classical music on 6th grade math performance.
I became interested in this idea when my mother told me not to study with the radio on, so this was the perfect opportunity to see if music affected performance or not.
The information gained from this experiment could benefit students, teachers, and business. Schools could play or avoid music to increase performance. Business could play or avoid music to help their employees work productively.
My hypothesis was that students who listened to classical music during a test would have an increased performance.
I based my hypothesis on a study done by Frances H. Rauscher in 1996.
Mr. Rauscher had a group of college students listen to classical music
for ten minutes. They hade an increased spatial-reasoning performance for
about an hour, but the effect wore off.
The constants in this study were:
- The test the students took.
- The amount of time the students were allowed to take the test.
- The volume and tempo of the music.
- The room the experiment was conducted in.
- The instructions they were given.
The manipulated variable was the music that was played during the
math test. There were four test groups that either listened to Mozart or
silence.
The responding variable was the test score. There were four test groups that either listened to Mozart or silence.
To measure the responding variable I compared the number of correct items in each subject’s tests using a scoring guide.
| QUANTITY | ITEM DESCRIPTION |
| 1 | CD player (boom box) |
| 1 | Mozart CD (classical music) |
| 40 | test subjects (students) |
| 1 | empty classroom |
| 50 | copies of each test A and B |
| 50 | pencils |
| 150-250 | Dum-Dum suckers (reward) |
| 50-70 | permission slips |
| 1 | experimenter’s script |
| 1 | anwser key |
- Obtain subject pool with permission slip.
- Randomly assign students to groups.
- a. Assign equal amount of boys and girls to group one A and one B.
- b. Repeat step 2a for group b.
- Prepare tests for experiment.
- a. Run off copies of tests.
- Prepare room for the test.
- a. Place stereo in front of the classroom where every student can hear the music.
- b. Set desks at least one foot apart and put a chair at each desk.
- c. Make sure that there will be no distractions to bother the test subjects during the test.
- Bring test subjects to the room were the
test will be conducted.
- a. Collect students from their classroom and show them to the test room.
- Read the instructions to students.
- a. Answer their questions.
- b. Tell them that for honestly taking the test they will get a candy.
- Pass out the test to subjects.
- a. Instruct them to put their name on the test.
- b. Have them work in silence or listen to music while they are taking the test based on the chart on my display.
- c. Time the test with a stopwatch.
- When the students have had twenty minutes to take the test, stop them.
- a. Collect tests
- b. Release the students.
- c. Have them return one hour later to take the second test.
- After they return give them the second test with music playing.
- a. Don’t start them until the music has played for five minutes.
- b. Time the test so that at twenty minutes the test is over.
- When all tests are done release students.
- a. Collect tests.
- b. Score the tests and log the results.
The original purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of classical music on 6th grade math performance.
The results of the experiment were over 46% scored higher while listening music than in silence. Only 45% scored higher with silence.
My hypothesis was that students who listened to classical music during a test would have an increased performance.
The results indicate that this hypothesis should be accepted because the music average was 46.3% and the silence average was 45.1%.
Because of the results of this experiment, I wonder if gender would affect the results. I also wonder if the type of test would affect the score. I also wonder if the order of the test would affect the score because the first test average was 47.5% and the second test average was 43.8%
If I were to conduct this project again I would use more subjects and
I would also try a different artist like Bach.
- I would like to thank the following people for their help My family has been great about helping me to research and getting me to class and putting up with the stress.
- I would also like to thank Mr.Newkirk and Mrs.Helms for running this program. If it weren’t for them I wouldn’t even be here They have worked so hard to get us through this project.
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