Teaching Mathematics with Music: A Pilot Study

Abstract

A solid foundation in mathematics is paramount to a comprehensive STEM education. Many students, however, struggle with connecting mathematical concepts with their everyday life and find its symbolic nomenclature unintuitive; subsequently this can be a significant barrier for many students in undertaking further STEM studies. In this paper we describe a pilot study which aims to determine whether understanding in mathematics, and specifically, fractions, equivalence, ordinance, and division, improves when we employ music and musical rhythm in our lessons. This pilot study is currently being trialed at a public high school in Sydney's South-West and despite the fact that the study is ongoing, preliminary data suggest students are responding to this novel teaching methodology. In this paper we report increases in both test performance and, importantly, student engagement.