Music = Better Student Performance?
Nicholas Simpson
|The Problem|
Does listening to music result in better performance? Some students improve while others do not. It mostly depends on the person. About 50% of students agree that while listening to music they improve while taking test or just doing work. the other 50% say the exact opposite. They state that the music can be distracting and can make it difficult to focus. In some situations students have even blamed getting bad scores on tests do to distracting music.
|My thoughts|
In my opinion yes. I have found that listening to music myself calms me and helps me concentrate on the subject. Many others agree with me. I have found that while listening to music I do better. Yet this is my opinion in all I'm on both sides.
|Face the facts|
There's a few different thoughts about this. Some say it doesn't while other say it does. According to the New Jersey Institute of Technology "Students who studied with music playing had lower average test scores than those who didn't." Yet the institute also found that the scores varied depending on the whether the students routinely played music while studying and the type of music playing.
A study by the University of Wales focused on the detail of the different types of music on a student's concentration. Students were asked to recall a series of sounds presented in a specific order in different environments, including absolute silence with music they liked and music they didn't like in the background.
"Some students can study effectively with music playing while others are distracted by outside stimulus."
Many students have pointed out that they listen to classical music while they study. This is directing to the Mozart Effect, a set of research results that asserts listening to classical music provides short-term enhancement of mental tasks including memorization known as spatial temporal reasoning.
A study by the University of Wales focused on the detail of the different types of music on a student's concentration. Students were asked to recall a series of sounds presented in a specific order in different environments, including absolute silence with music they liked and music they didn't like in the background.
"Some students can study effectively with music playing while others are distracted by outside stimulus."
Many students have pointed out that they listen to classical music while they study. This is directing to the Mozart Effect, a set of research results that asserts listening to classical music provides short-term enhancement of mental tasks including memorization known as spatial temporal reasoning.
This means some students improve while others do not.
|Summing it up|
So it's basically half and half. Some agree that it helps while others argue with that and say it doesn't. Yet they're both right. It helps some people whilst others it makes it more difficult. It has also been pointed out that when listening to classical music it works a lot better than more modern music. Mostly because classical music is more calming and relaxing.
|Try it for yourself!|
Why don't you try studying with music? It's as likely to do better with music as it's as likely for a zebra to have a black stripe yet it's also as unlikely as a zebra to have a white stripe. So next time you go study for a test see if music is the key to your success!