Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Madelaine Ramey
Committee Member
Betty Boult
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
brain hemisphere functions, California, California Mathematics Standards Test, early childhood education, mathematics achievement, mathematics education, music education, neurological organization, Otis Lennon School Ability Test, piano instruction, poverty, primary education, spatial ability, spatial-temporal reasoning, Stanford 9, temporal perspective, third-grade students, Viejo Elementary School
Abstract
At Viejo Elementary School in South Orange County, California, third-grade average mathematics scores on the Stanford 9 and California Mathematics Standards Test were noted to lag far behind district, county, and state averages. At Viejo Elementary School, a greater percentage of students are living at or near the poverty level--as evidenced by qualifying for the free or reduced lunch program--than the average percentage of students so qualifying in elementary schools in the district, county, and state. Analysis of probable cause data supported the hypothesis that children raised at or below the poverty level can suffer profound and enduring effects on brain organization and behavior.
A review of solution strategies documented in research literature together with an analysis of the problem setting resulted in the selection of an intervention designed to enhance the spatial-temporal reasoning ability of third-grade students. The targeted population consisted of elementary students in 4 third-grade classrooms. Students in 2 of the classrooms were exposed to the intervention and students in the remaining 2 classrooms served as a control group. The intervention utilized piano lessons with a certificated music teacher in a music lab, educational mathematics software with the regular classroom teacher in the computer lab, and mathematics problems in the regular classroom setting. This curriculum used piano instruction to enhance the brain’s ability to learn and, then, to apply that mental ability to solving problems.
An analysis of the data revealed that students receiving the intervention outperformed students in the control group on 3 different measures of mathematics achievement. The most significant difference in mathematics achievement was noted on the Otis Lennon School Ability Test on which the improvement of the group receiving the intervention was substantially greater than that of the control group.