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General exposure to the arts is often credited with having added educational or intellectual benefits that extend beyond the artistic experience itself. For example, many have claimed that listening to classical music makes children smarter, that studying music helps students learn mathematics, or that studying drama helps students learn to read.
Such claims are often used to justify the inclusion of arts education in school curricula, despite the fact that the evidence that these claims are built upon is often shaky. However, there is good evidence that the arts can contribute to effective learning conditions for students.
Research published nearly two decades ago, demonstrated that listening to Mozart can produce a short-term improvement in spatial processing abilities.[1] This was promptly dubbed the “Mozart effect” and quickly became something of a scientific legend, thanks to the theory’s wide dissemination in the media. Media reports that “listening to Mozart makes you smarter” (e.g., Knox, 1993; Ross, 1994) fuelled a popular belief that listening to classical music could boost a child’s IQ.[2],[3] In one particularly notable instance, the Governor of Georgia in the United States proposed buying classical music CDs for every newborn child in his state.[4]
The popularity of the Mozart effect illustrates the strong appeal of the notion that exposure to the arts has a positive effect on intelligence. But can Mozart really make us smarter? Do the arts carry cognitive benefits that are imparted for free through simple exposure? A close examination of the original research that spawned the Mozart effect (and subsequent related research) suggests that the answer is no.
In the 1993 study that launched the Mozart Effect, university students were exposed to 10-minute selections of Mozart’s Sonata for “Two Pianos in D major,” a relaxation tape or silence.
The students then performed a spatial task from the Stanford Binet Intelligence Test. Performance on the spatial task was significantly better after listening to the Mozart composition, than after listening to the relaxation tape or to silence.[5]
This demonstration suggests that Mozart can indeed make us smarter. But before drawing this conclusion it is important to answer a number of questions.
The answer to each of these questions appears to be no. Listening to Mozart can enhance spatial reasoning abilities, but it does not appear to have a similar affect on other tasks or abilities.[6] Furthermore, the effect of listening to Mozart is short-lived and wears off after approximately 15 minutes.[7]
To determine whether the Mozart effect results from particular aspects of Mozart’s compositions, researchers have attempted to replicate the same effect using other types of music. These efforts have been successful.
While the “Schubert effect” or the “Pop Music effect” have not drawn the same degree of media attention as the original Mozart effect, research shows that these forms of music can also have temporary effects on spatial reasoning abilities.[8],[9]
Researchers have demonstrated that listening to 10 minutes of a short story can produce a similar increase in spatial reasoning abilities (i.e., the “Stephen King effect”).[10] Researchers have also shown that people who prefer listening to a short story will show enhanced spatial reasoning after listening to one—but show no effects after listening to Mozart. Further, people who prefer listening to Mozart display enhanced spatial reasoning abilities after exposure to Mozart; but not after listening to the story. These findings suggest that the enhanced effect derives, not from a specific form of music or story, but from the experience of listening to something enjoyable.[11]
Research indicates that the Mozart effect is based on mood and arousal. For most people, listening to Mozart’s piano sonata induces a heightening of mood and emotional arousal. The effects of mood and arousal on test performance are well-documented and show that people generally perform better on tests when they feel happier.[12] In short, Mozart does not make us smarter—but he can make us happier (at least temporarily).
While it appears unlikely that simple exposure to the arts can make an individual smarter there have been claims that studying the arts can improve intelligence and academic achievement. A number of researchers have investigated the possibility that students develop skills and abilities through studying the arts that are beneficial in other academic areas.
Several correlational studies—in which students who have chosen to study the arts are compared to students who have not—have demonstrated higher academic achievement among students who choose to study the arts than among students who do not.[13] However, these correlational studies do not provide convincing evidence that studying the arts causes higher academic achievement. Other explanations are equally plausible: for example, students who choose to study the arts may do so because they enjoy learning or because they are motivated to achieve in various areas of their lives—which would also explain their high levels of academic achievement.
Experimental studies—in which students are randomly assigned to receive arts education and then tested for improvements in intelligence or academic achievement—can provide more definitive answers than correlational studies. However, the evidence from experimental studies has not pointed to a clear conclusion.
In one study, young children were randomly assigned to receive music lessons, drama lessons or no lessons for one year.[14] Before and after the lessons the children were given IQ tests, the results of which indicated that the ones who received music lessons showed a larger increase in IQ score than those who received drama or no lessons at all. Though statistically significant, the differences were small: the children in the drama lessons and no-lessons groups showed an average increase of 4.4 points in their IQ score, while those in the music-lessons group showed an average increase of 6.9. This means that taking music lessons for one year would move an average child from the 50th to the 56th percentile.
Another study showed similar effects in the short-term, but no longer term effects. Researchers followed two groups of children over a three-year period during which one group studied piano and the other group did not.[15] Initially there were no differences between the two groups. At the end of each of the first and second year, the piano group showed higher scores in tests of their general and spatial intelligence. At the end of three years however, any differences between the two groups had disappeared.
Overall the evidence suggests that there may be some short-term cognitive benefits associated with the study of music, but these effects do not appear to be long-lasting. Further, a meta-analysis of experimental and quasi-experimental[*] studies revealed essentially no impact on academic outcomes as a result of an arts education.[16]
Overall, there do not appear to be any long-term “free” benefits associated with the arts. It is unlikely that simply being exposed to the arts or even studying the arts will make one smarter (though there are certainly other benefits to be enjoyed). However, there is some evidence that the arts can help us learn more effectively. In particular, when arts education is integrated into the larger curriculum, many students benefit by becoming more motivated and engaged and by developing stronger skills in a variety of domains, including reading, writing and mathematics.[17]
Students participating in programs initiated by ArtsSmarts, a non-profit organization that helps public schools across Canada incorporate arts into their curriculum, show significantly higher levels of academic engagement after one year.[18] Students participating in Learning Through the Arts (LTTA) programs across Canada score significantly higher on math assessments than their peers in non-LTTA schools.[19] As well, students participating in the Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education show significantly greater progress in reading and math skills than students who are not enrolled in the programs.[20]
These findings do not suggest there is anything magical about arts integration in school curricula. Rather, they demonstrate that arts integration allows for varied and rich instruction and provides a vehicle for students to process and practice the information and skills they acquire in their classes. For example, the research on dance and reading suggests that dance offers an innovative way to teach basic reading skills to novice readers. Dance programs in which children learn to physically represent letters with their bodies can help children learn letter and sound correspondences and how to segment individual sounds in spoken language.[21]
Integrating creative drama exercises into reading activities can lead to improvements in reading comprehension. Students who perform dramatic enactments of stories they have read show better comprehension of those stories. Importantly, their comprehension of stories they have not acted out also improves.[22] Both drama and drawing can be used for pre-writing exercises to help students develop their ideas. Students’ narrative writing improves significantly whether they use pantomime, movement and improvisation or figure, action and setting drawings to develop their narratives.[23] Dramatic enactments can also help students with non-narrative forms of writing. For example, a pre-writing exercise involving role-playing can be more helpful than direct instruction in helping students develop persuasive writing texts.[24]
While the arts may enable successful learning for many students, this outcome is secondary to the direct benefits of artistic experiences and explorations. The joy derived from creating art, expressing thoughts and feelings or experiencing others’ artistic expressions carries its own value, and should not be discounted or underestimated. In exploring the learning potential of the arts it is important that we do not overlook their distinct contributions to education.[25]
In arts-integrated classrooms, arts education is not treated as a separate content area but rather as fundamental to teaching and learning in all subjects. The arts are integrated into the entire curriculum to enhance learning opportunities for all students. Therefore, teachers require specialized training in order to learn how to adjust their lessons and overall teaching strategy in order to make space for arts integration. The extent of teacher training in arts-curriculum integration has a significant impact on student outcomes.[26]
In order to effectively learn through the arts, students require explicit instruction on how learning in one area (e.g., the arts) is similar to learning in other areas (e.g., academic subjects). Teachers need to help students develop strategies during their artistic endeavours that can be applied to other endeavours. This requires students to develop a deep understanding of a particular learning domain as well as an understanding of how to transfer knowledge and skills to other domains.[27]
Though Mozart may not make us smarter, the arts can make significant contributions to education—both through their own distinct value and as enablers of effective learning.
(The answer is B.)
[*] In quasi-experimental studies, participants are not randomly assigned to experimental and control groups (often because doing so is impossible or impractical). Instead, participants in different groups are matched to ensure that there are no initial group differences.
[1] Rauscher, F.H., Shaw, G.L. & Ky, K.N. (1993). Music and spatial task performance. Nature, 365, 611.
[2] Ross, A. (1994). Listening to Prozac…er, Mozart. The New York Times, August 28, 1994. Accessed February 2, 2010.
[3] Knox, R. A. (1993). Mozart makes you smarter, Calif. Researchers suggest. Boston Globe, October 14, 1993.
[4] Sack, K. (1998). Georgia’s governor seeks musical start for babies. The New York Times, January 15, 1998.
[5] Rauscher, F.H., Shaw, G.L. & Ky, K.N. (1993). Music and spatial task performance. Nature, 365, 611.
[6] Chabris, C.F., Steele, K.M., Dalla Bella, S., Peretz, I., Dunlop, T., Dawe, L.A., Humphrey, G.K., et al. (1999). Prelude or requiem for the ‘Mozart Effect’? Nature, 400, 826-828.
[7] Rauscher, F.H., Shaw, G.L. & Ky, K.N. (1993). Music and spatial task performance. Nature, 365, 611.
[8] Nantais, K.M. & Schellenberg, E.G. (1999). The Mozart effect: An artifact of preference. Psychological Science, 10, 370-373.
[9] Schellenberg, E.G. & Hallam, S. (2005). Music listening and cognitive abilities in 10- and 11-year-olds: The blur effect. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1060, 202-209.
[10] Nantais, K.M. & Schellenberg, E.G. (1999). The Mozart effect: An artifact of preference. Psychological Science, 10, 370-373.
[11] Thompson, W.F., Schellenberg, E.G. & Husain, G. (2001). Arousal, mood and the Mozart effect. Psychological Science, 12, 248-251.
[12] Eich, E. & Forgas, J.P. (2003). Mood, cognition, and memory. In A.F. Healy & R.W. Proctor (eds.), Handbook of Psychology: Experimental Psychology, 4. (pp. 61-83). New York: Wiley.
[13] Winner, E. & Cooper, M. (2000). Mute those claims: No evidence (yet) for a causal link between arts study and academic achievement. Journal of Aesthetic Education, 34 (3-4), 11-75.
[14] Schellenberg, E.G. (2004). Music lessons enhance IQ. Psychological Science, 15, 511-514.
[15] Costa-Giomi, E. (1999). The effects of three years of piano instruction on children’s cognitive development. Journal of Research in Music Education, 47, 198-212.
[16] Winner, E. & Cooper, M. (2000). Mute those claims: No evidence (yet) for a causal link between arts study and academic achievement. Journal of Aesthetic Education, 34 (3-4), 11-75.
[17] Deasy, R.J. (Ed.) (2002). Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development. Washington, DC: Arts Education Partnership.
[18] Dunleavy, J. & Dunning, P. (2009). ArtsSmarts’ Impact on Student Engagement: First Research Report 2007-2009. Ottawa, ON: ArtsSmarts.
[19] Smithrim, K. & Upitis, R. (2005). Learning through the arts: Lessons in engagement. Canadian Journal of Education, 28 (1-2), 109-127.
[20] Catterall, J.S. & Waldorf, L. (1999). Chicago Arts Partnership in Education (CAPE): Evaluation summary. In E. Fiske (Ed.), Champions of Change: The Impact of the Arts on Learning. Washington, DC: The Arts Education Partnership and The President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.
[21] McMahon, S.D., Rose, D.S. & Parks, M. (2003). Basic reading through dance program: The impact on first-grade students’ basic reading skills. Evaluation Review, 27(1), 104-125.
[22] DuPont, S. (1992). The effectiveness of creative drama as an instructional strategy to enhance the reading comprehension skills of fifth-grade remedial readers. Reading Research and Instruction, 31(3), 41-52.
[23] Moore, B.H. & Caldwell, H. (1993). Drama and drawing for narrative writing in primary grades. Journal of Educational Research, 87(2), 100-110.
[24] Wagner, Betty-Jane. (1990). Dramatic improvisation in the classroom. In S. Hynds & D.L. Rubin (Eds.), Perspectives on Talk and Learning. pp 195-211. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
[25] Winner, E. & Hetland, L. (2000). The arts in education: Evaluating the evidence for a causal link. The Journal of Aesthetic Education, 34(3-4), 3-10.
[26] Baum, S.M. & Owen, S.V. (1997). Using art processes to enhance academic self-regulation. In R.J. Deasy, R.J. (Ed.) (1997). Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development. Washington, DC: Arts Education Partnership.
[27] Winner, E. & Cooper, M. (2000). Mute those claims: No evidence (yet) for a causal link between arts study and academic achievement. Journal of Aesthetic Education, 34 (3-4), 11-75.