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Want to Be Better at Mathematics? Try Taking up Music
Free Malaysia Today ^ | 10 Jul 2023

Posted on 07/19/2023 2:54:50 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Turkish research finds that the use of music in education leads to an improvement in young people’s numerical skills over time.

With marks in mathematics among students in the United States at their lowest in decades – not to mention questionable passing scores in Malaysia – parents, educators and certain authorities alike are naturally concerned.

A recent Turkish study suggests that music could be a solution to issues of innumeracy or mathematical illiteracy. Dr Ayça Akin of Antalya Belek University came to this conclusion after analysing 55 studies from around the world involving 78,000 learners.

The researcher found that students achieved better results in mathematics when music was part of their lessons.

Ads by Kiosked Music can be integrated into maths instruction in a number of ways. For instance, students can clap their hands to songs with different rhythms when learning numbers and fractions, or use maths to design musical instruments.

Previous studies have indicated that children who are gifted musically are often also gifted when it comes to mathematics. But up until now, scientists have been unable to determine with any certainty whether instruction in music actually improves pupils’ math skills.

This hypothesis was put to the test by analysing maths-test results of students who had taken part in a music workshop. Their numeracy and problem-solving skills were assessed before and after taking part in these sessions, to determine whether they had reaped any benefits in terms of numeric capabilities.

The workshops consisted of classes in which the students sang, listened to, and composed music; also in which young participants learnt to play an instrument, either individually or as part of a group; and maths classes incorporating music directly.

Disciplines closer than you think

Akin found that the use of music led to an improvement in young people’s maths skills over time. The maths lessons that integrated music as part of the class were particularly successful, with 73% of those who took them achieving significantly better results than the control group.

And that’s not all: 69% of students who learnt to play an instrument and 58% of those enrolled in music classes made greater progress in mathematics than young people who did not take part in any introductory music workshop.

There are several factors that help explain this phenomenon, as outlined in the study, published in the journal “Educational Studies”. The use of music in maths instruction seems to boost students’ motivation and reduce the anxiety associated with learning a subject reputed to be difficult and demanding.

It also enables them to see mathematics in a new light. After all, the two disciplines have more in common than you might think, such as the use of symbols and symmetry.

They also require abstract thinking and quantitative reasoning. Furthermore, music and mathematics can only be mastered by repeated practice, even if some people naturally find it easier than others.

This is why Akin is calling on teachers to rethink the way young people are taught maths. “Encouraging maths and music teachers to plan lessons together could help ease students’ anxiety while boosting achievement,” she said.


TOPICS: Education; Music/Entertainment; Science
KEYWORDS: donatetightwad; math
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1 posted on 07/19/2023 2:54:50 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

In the middle ages, music was one of the four parts of the quadrivium, and it was studied in order to learn mathematics. No surprise here.


2 posted on 07/19/2023 2:56:27 PM PDT by chajin ("There is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12)
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To: nickcarraway

“Want to Be Better at Mathematics? Try Taking up Music”

Try throwing away the CALCULATOR.


3 posted on 07/19/2023 2:57:34 PM PDT by BobL (Trump has all the right Enemies; DeSantis has all the wrong Friends)
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To: nickcarraway

Yeah, like this is some “breakthrough” study. Musicians who can read music, know fractions down to 1/32. This used to be grade level 2 stuff, along with being exposed to the classic and romantic era composers. No more. Now they focus on creative pronouns and other crap that will, eventually, beg “loan forgiveness” by the time they are grads via the grace of future equity laws.


4 posted on 07/19/2023 3:05:41 PM PDT by LittleBillyInfidel (This tagline has been formatted to fit the screen. Some content has been edited.)
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To: nickcarraway

As a kid I got good at math by using my baseball card collection, and a monthly price guide, and adding up my collection on a sheet of paper.


5 posted on 07/19/2023 3:14:59 PM PDT by EvilCapitalist (81 million votes my ass.)
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To: LittleBillyInfidel

You mean it doesn’t work on differential equations?


6 posted on 07/19/2023 3:18:32 PM PDT by alternatives?
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To: nickcarraway

Studying would also help....


7 posted on 07/19/2023 3:22:29 PM PDT by sten (fighting tyranny never goes out of style)
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To: LittleBillyInfidel; Rennes Templar
Yeah, like this is some “breakthrough” study. Musicians who can read music, know fractions down to 1/32. This used to be grade level 2 stuff..

>>>The researcher found that students achieved better results in mathematics when music was part of their lessons.<<<

As easy as 2 + 2.

Circle of Fifths:


8 posted on 07/19/2023 3:38:16 PM PDT by Ezekiel (🆘️ "Come fly with US". Ingenuity -- because the Son of David begins with Mars ♂️, aka every man)
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To: nickcarraway

ABSOLUTELY!

Want to make a direct connection with God?

Learn to play an instrument and improvise.

Improvisation comes from another dimension and energy source.

Not just arithmetic, but the door to a direct spiritual connection the the energy of the universe.


9 posted on 07/19/2023 3:39:48 PM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: chajin

“four parts of the quadrivium”

No one cares about this fact... The ballgame is on...


10 posted on 07/19/2023 3:41:45 PM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: nickcarraway

My wife is a Harpist and Potter but disliked mathematics in high school and college. She utilizes math for both vocations.


11 posted on 07/19/2023 3:47:29 PM PDT by bertmerc1 (Conservative Buddhist)
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To: alternatives?

There was a book called “Godel, Escher, and Bach” some years ago.

Escher of course drew optical illusions.

Bach wrote a piece, that when played over and over, sounded as though it was continually ascending in pitch (or was it descending?) So that one was an “audible” illusion.

Godel proved that you can’t prove everything. In math there would always be unanswerable questions. You could introduce new axioms to make them answerable, but unanswerable questions would always remain.

I’m probably not giving a very good summary, and you raise a good point. I wasn’t that great in music but much better at math, and I’m not seeing how music helps with differential equations.


12 posted on 07/19/2023 4:04:13 PM PDT by scrabblehack
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To: alternatives?
You mean it doesn’t work on differential equations?

You mean it don't work on at work??

13 posted on 07/19/2023 4:09:35 PM PDT by Fightin Whitey
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To: nickcarraway
re. "Try Taking up Music”

So rappers are good at math? /s

14 posted on 07/19/2023 4:15:52 PM PDT by ken in texas
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To: nickcarraway

I learned fractions before I was five. Instead of the “whole” being a pie, it was a measure. The total count of the different notes had to add up to one whole measure.


15 posted on 07/19/2023 4:44:15 PM PDT by MayflowerMadam
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To: alternatives?

Always referred to those as partially difficult equations.
Some weren’t too hard. Others were a b...


16 posted on 07/19/2023 4:52:34 PM PDT by sasquatch
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To: MayflowerMadam

There is the beautiful simplicity of 4/4 time.


17 posted on 07/19/2023 4:55:48 PM PDT by jmacusa (Liberals. Too stupid to be idiots.)
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To: nickcarraway

Want to be better at math? Work the problems. All of em


18 posted on 07/19/2023 5:57:58 PM PDT by Nifster ( I see puppy dogs in the clouds )
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To: scrabblehack

“I’m not seeing how music helps with differential equations”

Well, when you start learning music it’s mostly simple arithmetic and ratios. Not too much complicated stuff.

The higher mathematical aspect comes in when you actually start learning the harmonic side of it. You are basically dealing with applied wave harmonics, but it is approached not from the mathematical side, by studying wave equations and the laws of harmonics and jiggling around coefficients and variables, but from the practical side, actually creating different combinations of waves and then observing how they interact in the real world, both objectively and subjectively, since there is a psychological aspect to music and not just a mathematical one. So a musician may not be able to look at a set of wave equations and tell you “that’s a c major chord”. But if you converted a set of wave equations into music, the musician could recognize what was going on, and tell the mathematician what is happening from a music theory perspective.

Probably would not help you solve differentials. But maybe it could give you a different perspective on them.


19 posted on 07/19/2023 5:57:59 PM PDT by Boogieman
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To: Boogieman

That was a very eloquently stated load of horseshit.


20 posted on 07/19/2023 6:19:06 PM PDT by EEGator
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