Complete Coverage

Researchers Design New Ways to Gauge Arts Spillover

Previous Studies Asked Wrong Questions, Used Narrow Focus, They Say

The public sat up and took notice in the 1990s when a pair of California researchers published a study showing that college students performed better on some mathematical tests after listening to a 10-minute Mozart sonata. The problem was that the effects evaporated soon after the final piano notes sounded. An hour later, the students were no better at those math tasks than they had been before their listening session.

Researchers say that’s pretty much been the story all along for research seeking to show that what students learn in the arts spills over into mainstream subjects. With a few exceptions, that line of work never panned out the way arts education supporters had hoped.

“The correlational studies showed whopping correlations, but the experimental studies showed nothing,” said Ellen Winner, a Boston College psychologist who reviewed the...