Chapter One
Problem Identification
Students are always listening to music, parents and teachers find this
distracting
Our team wants to prove that listening to the right genre/type of music is
actually good for students to do while studying or learning something new, as
music helps the brain remember
Definition
Genre: means the type of music we used in this experiment
-Classical: Mozart; instrumental and easy to listen to
-Indie: Alarm 9; happy and slow, love song, not too distracting
-Dance Pop: Thank You; popular and fast dance song, maybe too distracting
Memory Retention: the ability of our brain to remember information
-This is what we are testing in our experiment; will listening to music while
doing a task help a person to remember the task after it is complete
Objectives/ Aims of the Project
1. To find out which type of music will help the brain remember the
pictures
2. To prove that listening to music helps the ability of the brain to
remember more information
3. To prove that it is okay to listen to music while studying, because it will
help the brain to remember
Hypothesis
Listening to certain genres of music will increase memory retention
in the brain better than other genres or not listening to music
Areas of Study/ Scope of the Study
To show how music helps our memory
-Music is an important part of daily life
-Many people enjoy music and like to do activities while listening to music
-This experiment will test if a certain type of music is actually good to listen to
while learning something ne
-This is a scientific experiment that will test how music helps the brain to
remember information; our team will test 36 people with our experiment ,
observe them while they are doing the experiment, and analyze the
information we collect to see if our hypothesis is correct
Benefits/ Outcomes
-To find out that music is good for the memory
-To show that music will help people pay more attention and remember details
more easily
Chapter Two
Documentation/ Abstract
Our team wanted to provide an answer to the ongoing argument: Is listening
to music good while learning something new, or studying something
important?
The purpose of the science project is to test how listening to music effects the
memory
Certain types of music help the brain to remember information better than
other types
By conducting this experiment our team hopes to prove that listening to a
certain type of music while doing a task will make a person remember the task
shortly after doing it
We want to prove that music is beneficial to the brain and our memory, as we
use our brain every day and want it to remember the important things we do
and see
Chapter Three
Procedure
Tools and Equipment/ Materials
1. 4 sets of headphones and 4 computers (3 of which will have the music
on them, one is just to ensure the test subjects do not know who has
music and who does not) (Refer to Appendix 1 for a photo of our test
facility)
2. Music (3 genres: Classical-Mozart Symphony 40, Dance Pop-Thank You
by Thank You, Indie-Rave by Alarm 9)
3. 10 pictures to show the test subjects (Refer to Appendix 2 to view the
pictures we used)
4. A space to use as our test facility: the library
5. 4 desks and 4 chairs
6. Video camera to capture the experiment
7. Watch to time the steps of the experiment
8. Paper and Pencils
9. 36 test subjects (18 females/18 males), (12 students from P.4, 12
students from P.5, 12 students from P.6)
Experiment Procedure/ Method
1. Set up the 4 desks and 4 chairs in the library facing the same direction
2. Desk #1 is for Indie, desk #2 is for Dance Pop, desk #3 Classical, desk #4
no music
3. Place the set of 10 pictures on a board (all four of the test subjects will
be shown the board with the pictures on it at the same time while three
listen to music and one does not, this will happen for 2 minutes)
4. One group member is in charge of timing the experiment: 2 minutes for
the test subjects to listen to the music and view the pictures, 2 minutes
without music or the pictures, 2 minutes to write down all of the
pictures that they can remember seeing
5. The three group members that make up the project team have to record
each of the test subjects: their age and gender
6. Have 4 test subjects come in to the test facility at one time, two minutes
for one group member to explain the experiment to the test subjects,
and then 6 minutes to conduct the experiment
7. We repeated this process 10 times to get all 36 test subjects through the
experiment
8. collect all information and begin analyzing our results
9. clean up the test facility so that it can be used as a library again
Study Procedures/ Processes/ Steps
Processes
-Find the different genres of music and time how long each song will play (2
minutes)
-Find a space and create our test facility (the library)
-Choose and gather test subjects and process them efficiently so we did not
waste anyone’s time (36 people: 12 P.4, 12 P.5, 12 P.6)
-Complete a practice run of the experiment with the project team
-Begin the experiment with the test subjects, 4 people at a time
-Compile all of the information gained during the experiment
-Discuss and organize results
Steps
1. Preparation: began taking action and organizing our project team
2. Study: finalized our topic and began to study the information we would
use.
3. Experiment: began conducting the experiment in our test facility during
the first week of June (this took over a week as we had to test 36
people).
4. Creation and Assembly: creating the presentation board and assembling
all necessary information
5. Project Package: our team compiled all of the information and typed it
up to create the project package
6. Conclusion: completed the experiment, compiled all of our results, and
began practicing how we would present our project
Chapter Four
Outcome/ Results
-There were 10 pictures to remember (Refer to Appendix 2 to view the
pictures)
-Each test subject was marked on how many out of 10 they could recall
-We then calculated the percentage of correct answers for the 9 test subjects
from each Desk/music genre
An Explanation of Calculations:
9 test subjects per Desk#/genre of music
Calculated how many pictures out of 10 each test subject remembered:
Total/10
Added all test subjects together per desk (so 9 per desk): total/90
The total out of 90 for each Desk#/genre of music left us with the average for
the entire group of test subjects: Total/90 x 100 = %
We repeated this process for each set of 9 test subjects at each Desk#/genre of
music
Desk #1 listened to the Indie genre
The song: Rave by Alarm 9
9 test subjects in total: 4 females, 5 males
47 out of 90 = 52%
This group of test subjects was also distracted by the Indie love song, but they
still managed to get over 50% of the answers correct
Desk #2 listened to the Dance Pop genre
The song: Thank You by Thank You
9 test subjects in total: 5 females, 4 males
44 out of 90 = 48%
This group of test subjects was the most distracted due to the high-energy
nature of the song and so remembered fewer pictures than the other 3 desk
groups.
Desk #3 listened to the Classical genre
The piece was composed by: Mozart, Symphony 40
9 test subjects in total: 5 females, 4 males
68 out of 90 = 75%
This group of test subjects remembered the most pictures and so proved that
Classical is the genre that people can listen to while performing a task and then
having to remember what they did or saw or heard.
Desk #4 listened to no music (but the desk was set up exactly the same as the
other 3)
9 test subjects in total: 4 females, 5 males
65 out of 90 = 72%
This group of test subjects came in 2nd to the Desk#3/Classical genre, which
means that many people are still able to retain information and relay that
information, even without the help of music.
Chapter Five
Analysis and Conclusion
Analysis of Data
Our project team found that Indie (Desk #1) and Dance Pop (Desk #2) were
distracting for many of the test subjects, and that Classical (Desk #3) was the
best genre to listen to while studying the pictures. Having no music (Desk #4)
playing while studying the pictures was also a good way to remember the
pictures as there was no distraction at all, only quiet provided by the
headphones.
Conclusion
In conclusion we found that our experiment worked and that Classical music is
one of the best genres to listen to while doing a task.
Indie and Dance Pop songs were too distracting; the test subjects who listened
to them while studying the pictures remembered less of the pictures than the
test subjects who listened to Classical music.
The test subjects who had no music also did a good job remembering the
pictures they saw, as they had headphones on which kept it quiet, so they
were able to concentrate.
Our project team concludes that some genres of music, such as Classical, do
increase memory retention in the brain.
Problems and Solutions
Problems
If our team had used traditional Thai music, or sounds of nature (rain,
waterfalls, or the ocean) we might have seen better results for listening to
music while studying the pictures.
As many of our test subjects were under the age of 11 the Indie and Dance Pop
music was too exciting and distracted them from remembering the 10 pictures.
There was also some difficulty spelling the word or recognizing the picture and
describing it in English. We tried to select pictures that were easy to identify
and spell, but some of the younger students had trouble writing down what
they saw.
Solutions
If our team was to conduct this experiment again, we would have more genres
of music to make sure that there were many songs to listen to
This way we can test less distracting music and see if there are other genres of
music that will help the brain to remember information
We can also choose pictures or words that younger students can recognize and
write down; we could have different sets of pictures for each age group.
We could also test more ages: P.3, P.4, P.5, P.6, as well as teachers and parents
Recommendations for Future Experiments
Our project was successful but we recommend that this study be continued as
we only tested three genres of music and three different age groups. If the
study is continued and more people take part in the experiment, with more
genres of music, then we can determine if there are many genres of music that
will help the brain to remember information.
This topic was important to study because music is a part of all cultures and
can be heard in daily life, and is easy to find. It is scientifically significant
because we can say that listening to music while doing a task is actually
beneficial and increases the memory functions within the brain. Listening to
the right genre of music will help all people to learn more easily and remember
more of what they learn.
References/ Bibliography
This is how we found information about this science experiment:
http://www.education.com/science-fair/article/music-and-memory/
This is how we identified what genres of music we would use:
http://www.musicgenreslist.com/
This is how we knew that music benefits the brain:
https://blog.bufferapp.com/music-and-the-brain
http://time.com/3634995/study-kids-engaged-music-class-for-benefits-northwestern/
These are the links to the music we chose:
Classical: Mozart Symphony 40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTc1mDieQI8
Dance Pop: Thank You For Your Love by Thank You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq4afhe5o3o
Indie: Rave by Alarm 9
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2RiPRRGCdc