Sound Learning

Research shows that auditory processing connects strongly with children’s capacity for learning. Dr Anita Collins explains what exactly this means and how to adapt the sound environment in the classroom to support students’ development.

When you walk into a school for the very first time, what strikes you first? Is it how the entrance looks, the temperament of the administration staff that greet you or even how the reception room smells? For me it is how the school sounds.

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      string(5733) "music-making activities to boost auditory processing skills in early years. You just need the training and resources – and the confidence will come with practice. Even better news is that music workshops provide a great way to engage parents and encourage home practice. At the recent AFA Conference, early parental involvement was seen as key to solving the school-ready attainment gap problem. So evidence would suggest that combining music practice and parental engagement would indeed contribute to narrowing the gap.Boogie Mites write songs and compile music programmes with the aim of enabling practitioners and parents to access engaging, creative music resources to support learning in the EYFS. Boogie Mites Tutor team deliver 6-week parent education courses under Local Authority Contracts in Surrey and Hampshire for working with disadvantaged families. We work with approximately 1000 parents under these contracts each year. The objective is to empower parents to use music to boost delayed development. In 2013 Chichester University Early Years Researcher, Nikki Fairchild, conducted a study of these courses to evaluate the impact. The findings showed impact on parental engagement, home practice and confidence, with benefits on children’s development perceived as most significant for children with SEN or EAL.Download the Full and Executive Reports from the Boogie Mites website (boogiemites.co.uk/about/#rbase). Findings showed differences in four main areas:1. Parental Knowledge and Involvement – Boogie Mites sessions encouraged parents to make the links between the EYFS (DfE2012) prime areas of learning and the use of music, both at the session and in the home. The fact that parents were practising and using their skills at home indicated music becoming embedded into home practice, with the attendant benefits for increased parental involvement in their child’s development across the three prime areas.2. Parent and Child Confidence – Parents reported that they felt more confident to use music with their children at home and as part of everyday life. Whereas previously they said they used music for recreational purposes or in the background, they commented on how much of a primary role it now played in their lives. The parents’ increased confidence had a knock-on-effect on their child’s confidence.3. Creating a Safe Space for Participation – The facilitation of the Boogie Mites programmes by early years music leaders trained to work with both target and inclusive groups was viewed very positively by all parents, as they encouraged participation and allowed experimentation in a safe environment. They were the mediators between the settings/schools and home and supported the development of home practice. The positive attitudes of the facilitators encouraged and supported the parents. This provided an opportunity which promoted the group to work together, supporting the transition of parents from working alone to working as a group. This transition allowed parents the chance to gain a wider support network over and above the music activities on offer (perfect for transition from pre-school to school).4. Practitioner Confidence and Sharing Best Practice – A significant number of practitioners said the Boogie Mites training gave them confidence to implement the music programmes in their settings. After completing their training, there was almost an explosion of enthusiasm, eagerness and willingness to implement what they had learned back into their setting. Not only that, but they were inspired enough to share what they learned with the rest of their colleagues.Boogie Mites have trained thousands of early years parents and practitioners all over the UK and work with many schools to support the transition process throughout the pre-school year each year. We receive excellent feedback regarding the impact on practitioner and parent knowledge, confidence and regularity of practice. More research needs to be undertaken to evaluate the impact on pre-school children’s development. The factors that determine what makes the music training effective also need to be evaluated.US studies that provide evidence of the link between auditory processing skills, socio-economic status (SES) and academic achievement:Auditory processing skills, known to be important for language development, may contribute to the link between SES and academic achievement.2 Musical training is an avenue of enrichment that may counteract some of the auditory deprivation endemic to low SES environments. A number of studies have revealed that children undergoing music training have stronger cognitive abilities, vocabulary, rhythm perception and production (linked to reading skill), perception of vocal pitch, and perception of speech in noisy backgrounds than non-musician children.3 Additionally, musical practice can strengthen children’s auditory encoding of speech,4 auditory discrimination and attention,5 and lead to structural changes in auditory cortical areas.6 The auditory benefits of music training have direct implications for language skills and academic achievement;7 accordingly, music may serve as an effective training tool for children with learning and attention impairments.8Brainvolts laboratory has shown that participation in music training through Harmony Project can reinforce literacy skills for children in primary/secondary education, enhance the perception of speech in background noise, and strengthen the neural encoding of speech sounds in children from low SES backgrounds.9"
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Arts-Based Learning

Closing the Literacy Gap with Early Years Music

4 Dec 2018

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      string(5654) "28 WINTER2006DARREN POWNERlooks back at the daysof teaching sciencebefore the widespreaduse of technology andcompares this withtoday’s sciencelearning environmentFor nearly a decade, the role of technologyin supporting and enabling thetransformation of our education systemhas been recognised. The significant investmentin ICT during this time has achieved access forlearners and teachers to the widest range oftechnologies.I teach science at Acklam Grange School,Middlesbrough, a thriving secondary school wherewe strive to achieve an increase in the already highstandards by providing opportunities for studentsto be actively involved in their own learning.If you ask many science teachers how theclassroom environment has changed over theyears, they will commonly suggest that it hasn’tchanged that much. However, while the key topicsrequired for ‘science literacy’ (i.e. the topics thatstudents have to know) have not changed, thesubstantive and procedural content has changeda great deal. The introduction of QCA at KS3,which is going to change again next year, andthe introduction of ‘How science works’ at KS4,have brought many changes. The learningenvironment has also changed significantly withthe introduction of ICT and the new learningstyles this supports.Significant changeWe have noticed a significant change in the waythat we deliver learning. Much of this change isdue to the ICT resources that are now available.These products not only increase the students’comprehension but also engage them and motivatethem to learn. ICT has allowed teachers to bereleased from the role of being the main transmittersof information, skills and ideas, enabling us toconcentrate on the facilitation of learning. It hasallowed pupils to be empowered to learn moreindependently. They can also have more controlover the way they learn, which increases motivationand leads to increased attainment.The teaching of science at Key Stage 3 involvesthe transfer of understanding of many purelyconceptual topics. Taking Unit 8E: Atoms andElements as an example, it is always a challengeto demonstrate to students how the atoms ofelements combine to form molecules ofcompounds. Historically we would havedemonstrated a process like bonding by carryingout activities such as pinning up paper diagramsof the atom structure and then using drawingpins to demonstrate the transfer of the electronsor by using old-fashioned models. While Iappreciate that this type of learning activity wasa time-consuming and dated way of teaching,there were no other ways to effectivelydemonstrate the concept visually.Today I use Sunflower Learning’s applications,which give excellent visual representations andexplanations of conceptual ideas, which arefundamental to a deeper comprehension. Seeingthe transfer of electrons happening brings the processto life and the students are visibly engaged and highlymotivated. Because these products are focused totallyon KS3 and KS4 science, they are particularly goodat demonstrating the complex concepts requiredto do well at this level. It has been proven that theuse of a wide range of VAK (Visual, Auditory andScience:THENAND NOW29WINTER2006Kinaesthetic) skills, as provided by the software,increases involvement, motivation and overallretention of information; an enjoyable, memorablerange of activities is a more effective way to raisestandards and attainment.Generally our science teachers are veryenthusiastic about ICT. However, we do haveteachers who embrace ICT to different degrees,so it is important that we choose software that iseasy to install and use. If they are also easy to useand flexible in terms of how they can be used,the beauty of these ICT tools lies in the waythey make the learning process more visual andbeneficial to all students.Extending learning outcomesGood software fits into the learning environmentand enhances what the students need to grasp. Itthen gives them the opportunity to extend thelearning outcomes using resources such asactivities and worksheets.Once I have run through an initialdemonstration, I can adjust the variables and lookwith the students at how the results change as youcontrol and vary these different factors. This utilisesthe process and skills of experimentationimmediately, without the need to set up in a labenvironment. Alternatively, you can use this facilityto look at processes that would be hard to monitorin a classroom environment. For example, inphotosynthesis you can observe the results ofvarying several limiting factors on the amount ofoxygen produced and display them graphicallythrough the whiteboard, without the time-consuming and troublesome procedure of settingup the experiment and collecting the results.With so many exciting changes taking place inthe science curriculum, tools that allow us toenhance and bring new ways of explaining conceptsinto our teaching are valuable to us if we are toenthuse and capture the imagination of our students.Historically, the teaching of ‘circulation’ involveda diagram of a heart with arrows showing thedirection of blood flow as the heart pumps. Notexactly a memorable or inspiring lesson! Thechallenge with lessons like this was to schedule thatpart of the curriculum at a time in the term whenthere was hopefully a children’s programme ontelevision that demonstrated this effectively.Arranging to have the TV available was anotherkey factor in the success of this plan. Today we haveDVDs of video clips, sorted by subject area, whichcan be loaded onto my PC and displayed to thewhole-class. Alternatively I have used Boardworksresources."
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Digital Learning

Science: THEN AND NOW

24 Jan 2007

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      string(5636) "ICT AND LITERACY41September/October 2005     ••••• primaryleadershipTODAYEnhancing literacyteaching through ICTOfsted concluded from last year’sfindings that, of the teachers observed, only 25% were usingICT effectively. In order to change this there needs to beshared and collaborative thinking within schools, LEAs andnationally. Enhancing teaching through the use of ICT is notabout changing teaching styles but about complementingcurrent practice with a practical, inspirational and eminentlyuseable resource.Isn’t literacy about books?Many view ICT within literacy with a degree of distrust, ‘thedeath of books’ is seen as inevitable as children and youngadults become more adept at surfing the Net than visiting alibrary. ICT cannot replace literature. There are few who wouldchoose to read a novel online! But it can, and does, enhanceit. As teachers we have all studied Shakespeare at sometime or another and most of us will have seen a performanceof his work. If the performance was not live but recorded,then ICT was involved and our learning was enhanced throughits use. Performance literature has been available to thegeneral public a lot longer than books as the history of readingamongst the masses is relatively short.Stories have been told orally, or performedor shown through pictures, since timeimmemorial, so a return to a more visualand auditory approach to literacy is a returnto our story-telling heritage.Whole-class teaching andshared textsA key factor of the Literacy Hour is whole class teaching,and this often centres on shared reading and writing. WhileBig Books can be useful in smaller guided groups, they havealways proved problematic for whole class activities.Interactive texts are a solution to this as interactivewhiteboards allow all pupils to engage with the same centralfocal point in the classroom. Most publishers have producedhigh quality, colourful texts with a range of tools to highlight,alter and hide text. As is often the case, the later publicationsare often much improved, with fewer of the glitches that cancurse electronic media. E-learning credits make the purchaseof these resources affordable and, with many of the textsbeing cross-curricular, they are generally a good investment.However, the great thing about ICT is that it brings desktoppublishing to the classroom. Why not produce interactive,radial texts of your own?Research shows that children, especially boys, write bestwhen they have a real purpose and a known audience fortheir work. History topics can be researched within literacybefore being presented in a variety of formats. The moretraditional approach of incorporating ICT is to ask pupils topresent a piece of writing for display, perhaps inserting animage from clipart and a border. By using PowerPoint ratherthan Word and teaching children how to insert a hyperlink(a simple task that can be developed further as confidencegrows), a radial text along the lines of Encarta is an easilyachievable goal. Sections of text, lifted by imported imagesand sound effects, can be linked to further information withinI CT is now well and truly partof our curriculum. Governmentfunding, Inset, basic skills requirementsand private finance initiatives havetransformed the odd BBC to computersuites, tablets and interactive whiteboards. So where do we go from here andhow can we make it an intrinsic part ofour teaching and learning? Each issue ofPrimary Leadership Today will examineICT’s relationships with one other areaof the curriculum. Karen Ferguson givesus some ideas for literacy.primaryleadershipTODAY •••••     September/October 200542Have you used oneof the resourcesmentioned in thisarticle?How did it go?Are there othersyou wouldrecommend?e-mailpltquestions@hotmail.co.ukthe publication or to relevant and appropriate web pages.The benefit of this is that it produces a class and schoolresource that can be reused and improved year upon year.This not only motivates and inspires pupils but also teachesthem the importance of planning their work. Without a textmap, this task becomes complicated and difficult to track.The map follows a mind mapping/family tree-type formatand so links to other recording skills they may need todevelop. Although the text does not have the built-in toolswhich are usually a feature of published electronic texts,these tools are standard on most whiteboards and so arenot really missed.Inspiring children to writeStory sacks are undeniably inspirational for children:colourful bags of various textures full of who knows what?How could they fail to be intrigued? The reason story sacksstimulate children is because their appeal is multi-sensory.However, sound is often excluded from this multi-sensoryapproach, as are moving images. If we make the wholewriting environment part of the stimulus, children cannotfail to be inspired. Surround them with excellent examplesof the focus genre, place key objects around the classroomwhich they are free to hold and touch, play music and soundclips to create atmosphere and have film clips playing onthe interactive whiteboard (with or without sound). Forexample, in Year 5 The Railway Children by E. Nesbitt canbe brought to life by focusing on the climate of change thisclassic is set in. Children can be asked to empathise withBobbie and the others when they first see the Green Dragonfly through the countryside. The classroom can be filledwith the sounds of steam trains, toy trains made availablefor pupils to touch and study, and the film clip playedrepeatedly as a stimulus. A similar approach can be usedfor myths"
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Leadership

Enhancing literacy teaching through ICT

1 Jan 2005

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      string(357) "... to its usefulness, reliability, truth, and so on. All of the hours children spend with new technology has not led to acquisition of these necessary skills (called media literacy or information problem-solving skills.In addition, children (and adults too) often flutter via hyperlinks from one ‘interesting’ piece of information ..."
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      string(5645) "Is this a Kinaesthetic learner? Did you hear the one about the little old lady (why is it always a little old lady?) who after walking her toy poodle in the rain wanted to dry it quickly? She put the poodle in the microwave – it used to be the clothes drier – and cooked it?Such a story is called an urban legend; an often fictitious story that’s broadly circulated, seen by the teller and listener as true, that we want to believe, but that there’s no proof for.Education is rife with myths which undermine learning. Many can be dismissed as tangential or exotic (e.g., listening to Mozart makes your baby smarter), but some are pernicious. Take the idea that kids’ brains now are different from previous generations and that teaching should accommodate this.We look at three pervasive urban legends in education which actually are variations on one central theme, namely, that learners know best and should be the controlling force in their learning.The first is the learner as digital native who instinctively know how to learn from new media, and for whom ‘old’ media and methods used in teaching/learning no longer work. The second is that learners have specific learning styles and that education should be individualised so that the pedagogy matches that style. The final legend is that learners ought to be seen as self-educators who should be allowed to control/determine what they are learning and how.Myth 1. The Digital NativeIf you see kids with a tablet, you might think they really know what they’re doing. They search for videos and effortlessly use all types of social media. People call them digital natives and call us (parents and teachers) digital immigrants.According to Marc Prensky1 who coined the term, these digital natives can’t learn in the current educational system and thus should be taught in a different way because they think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors “as a result of this ubiquitous [digital] environment and the sheer volume of their interaction with it”(p. 1).Veen and Vrakking2 took this a step further and introduced the homo zappiëns; a new generation of learners who learn significantly differently from their predecessors.But playing with tablets is different from learning via tablets and Instagramming friends is different from communicating and collaborating to learn. Yes, kids can search for practically everything online, but there’s also a lot of misinformation, disinformation, and even sheer nonsense online.Good Googling requires formulating a good search question and then assessing what’s found with respect to its usefulness, reliability, truth, and so on. All of the hours children spend with new technology has not led to acquisition of these necessary skills (called media literacy or information problem-solving skills.In addition, children (and adults too) often flutter via hyperlinks from one ‘interesting’ piece of information to the next without understanding the underlying structure of the content. They may remember some ‘interesting’ facts, but don’t really learn. Gavriel Salomon3 called this the butterfly defect.Myth 2. Learning StylesThe second legend is learning styles. The idea is that to teach well, you need to determine the learning style of each pupil and then teach accordingly. This is known as the meshing hypothesis4. Step 1, thus, is determining what style each learner has.In the last half century, many different learning styles have been thought up. For example, the VARK divides people into four learning styles: Visual, Auditory, Read/Write, Kinaesthetic. Kolb defines four styles, namely divergers, assimilators, convergers, and accommodators.Others divide students into holistic or analytical learners, impulsive or reflective learners, analytical, practical or creative learners, and so on. Frank Coffield and his colleagues came to no fewer than 71 different styles!One learning style per child?Suppose you want to use learning styles to differentiate in your classroom. First you determine who in the class is a diverger, assimilator, converger, or accommodator (Kolb). Once you determine this you then need to find out who in the class is visual, auditory, read/write or kinaesthetic (VARK). You now test her for this and you now can divide the class into visual divergers, auditory convergers… and all of of the now 16 possible styles (4 Kolb x 4 VARK). But who are holistic or analytical visual divergers? You test them again and now we are on 32 different learning styles that you may need to attend to. Are you there yet? No! You don’t know if there are impulsive or reflective analytical visual divergers. Now we’ve reached 64 different possible learning styles and unfortunately you can continue for a while (remember, you’ve only tested for 4 of the 71). That’s not only impossible, it also makes no sense at all.Add to this, research shows6,5 shows that matching teaching to learning style doesn’t lead to better learning. The meshing hypothesis predicts that, for example, pupils with an auditory style will learn better if they listen to the instruction and less well or not at all if they read it. This is the opposite for a pupil with a visual learning style (and we’ve purposely left out visual and kinaesthetic). Unfortunately, there’s no proof that the meshing hypothesis is true!A third problem with learning styles inventories, usually self-response questionnaires, aren’t reliable. One week, the person is an assimilator and the next week a converger. Allied to this"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Did You Hear the One About the Kinaesthetic Learner…?

16 May 2020