Math and Music

The information about music and math are both very useful to a teacher.  Just like all aspects of learning, support from the family in early childhood is very important for learning math skills. Children who play board games and practice skills like estimating will likely have a greater chance of success at school. Making math understandable, rather than rote memorization, will also provide a benefit to students. The concept that we give children calculators was a controversial idea brought up in our lesson, but perhaps having this tool available could be helpful for students who could be moving on to more complex concepts but struggle with the memorization. 

While Mozart will not make you smarter, it can have other benefits. There is research based data that shows that students could do better on exams after listening to something upbeat and pleasing to them. There is also a correlation between music and math fluency. It's possible that music helps improve math activation or it might be that people with high levels of brain activation in math make good musicians. Regardless of the reason, music can provide enjoyment, spark creativity and introduce other cultures to the listener. 

Language and Reading

The videos on Language and Reading provided great information about brain development in children.  As a future elementary school teacher, it's interesting to see how much brain development happens before the child arrives in the classroom. You have to hope that the children received good care from their parents/caregivers in the early years to give them the best possible opportunities in school.While some sensitive periods will have passed by the time they reach the classroom, the brain remains plastic.  The teacher must work with children of all levels of language development to help the students reach their potential.