Use Music for Better Learning

Students listen to music daily. They share music with their friends and talk about what they are listening to. Music plays an important role in students life, it also has the potential to help their learning.

This review of music research looks at the role of music in learning. It examined several different studies that all deal with music and learning. One study found that music enhances neuroplasticity priming the brain for other learning.

Another study found that music training teaches how to pick out sounds. This helps the learner understand better how to pick out what is most important. There was a study that shows how music helps students with attention problems hear speech better over background noise. This review shows how music training improves learning in many areas.

Application
Some training with music or the use of training to help focus student learning. Teachers could enlist their schools music teacher to help them integrate music into their curriculum. This would give them exposure to curriculum and music training.

Testing for Memories

I have looked at how testing can improve learning before. This study looks at why testing improves learning. It seeks to understand what it is we do when we take a test.

Researchers used learning a foreign language for their study. They found that to learn the word in another language the participants would use word associations. The act of taking a test forced them to create better word associations.

We want to do well on tests. Therefore we improve our strategy for taking the test. The test exerts a pressure on us. That is I think why testing improves memory. There is a difference to the student when a teachers says do this work and take this test. A test carries much more weight than the study sheet on the same material.

Part of the problem is that students do not see the connection. If they knew that doing well on the study sheet would improve their grade on the test they might work harder on the study sheet.

The problem is keeping the balance. If we give too many tests student begin to devalue them and we would lose the pressure that makes them learn from the tests. If we give too few they lose the opportunity to learn and grow.

Application
A teacher needs to keep tests relevant and stress their importance. Teachers could give quizzes in place of tests. While quizzes would not carry as much weight they would encourage the student to form better connections with the information they are learning without lessening the impact of testing.