tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7181744309080861233.post3397608146007509071..comments2024-01-12T00:48:55.192-08:00Comments on Music and Brain Blog at University of Toronto: Musical Training, Brain Structures, and BehaviourLee Bartelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06727468225852676801noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7181744309080861233.post-55940752156989056382009-11-15T16:33:28.542-08:002009-11-15T16:33:28.542-08:00This is an interesting study for its teaching impl...This is an interesting study for its teaching implications. I am not really surprised at the results because the instrumental group/keyboardists would have, in the 15 month study period, focused directly on improving the very skills that the test results were hoping to prove. I can see how a ‘4-finger motor skill test’ would be better after 15 months of keyboarding lessons although I am a little surprised about the melodic/rhythmic discrimination test result but then again, I am not sure what measurement “greater” actually correlates to – how much greater were the instrumentalists over the other musical group. The far-transfer measures result is curious but I don’t know enough about current research in the correlations of the tests and specific/general music learning. <br /><br />I wondered like you did about the learning environment of the two groups. How much focused 'result'-driven learning was there versus play-type learning? Individual or group? This isn’t to say that both aren’t important but it would likely affect the dynamics of the learning. Was it the same teacher with the same general teaching philosophy and methods? The instrumentalists were also a bit older. Although 6-7 months doesn’t mean much to adults' development, it may be more relevant in these young children’s development. I would have thought that the music class playing bells, drums, singing etc. would have produced greater or at least equal melodic and rhythmic discrimination, but perhaps it depends on multiple variables such as the ones we discussed? <br /><br />I followed the link your provided on the Atkinson Series and read the article "Cuban system leads the way". What I found very interesting in this article was that they addressed the attitudes of learners and teachers. <br /><br />I liked the comments about how our brains are constantly developing and intelligence is not fixed. Just because you don’t do well on a test doesn’t mean that you are stupid (I really dislike that word when children use it to describe themselves or others), but just that you “haven’t mastered that part yet”. Learners and teachers can’t use this as an excuse to give up, but instead to keep working at it. And if you do well on a test and have mastered the test material, maybe it is time to work on tougher concepts, the idea being to keep learning. <br /><br />The study that psychologist Carol Dweck performed involved the attitudes of adults and learning. In her study, some adult learners only tackled the difficult questions when they were being assessed, while others who were interested in improving their ability, as opposed to those who were out to “prove their ability” tried them all. <br /><br />Both of these discussions highlighted in "Cuban system leads the way" remind me of an article from the journal "Best of Educational Leadership 2007-2008" titled "The perils and promise of praise". I can’t find the article right now to refer to instead of my memory as the reference of it … but the basic gist of it is that teachers need to be careful about doling out praise. The children can start to define themselves as ‘stupid’ or ‘smart’ and complete their work for the ‘praise’ instead of striving to learn. Also, when the material being taught becomes more challenging, it is actually the children who previously struggled that are more successful in tackling the harder questions. They understand that they can learn and achieve because the brain is a working growing ‘muscle’ while those who didn’t have to work as hard, and the praise came easily, can have problems with the material and other issues such as self-esteem when achievement and the accompanying praise doesn’t happen as easily and readily as before.Miss Henkelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05945653838573395199noreply@blogger.com