In my Education 245 course I gained crucial knowledge for my future as an educator. This course was on Zoom, but that did not hinder my enjoyment of the class; in fact, it was extremely engaging, conversation driven, and interesting, even in an online learning environment. Dr. Matthews was a fantastic professor; she enhanced my knowledge of child development while allowing me opportunities to tie musical components from my major into the course.

The artifact I chose for this course is my Research and Advocacy paper, which served as a major final project. My paper was titled “Do Children Who Participate in Music have Improved Cognitive Function?” and the goal of my research was to answer my hypothesis which was that children who participate in music do in fact have higher cognitive function. My main goal in this research was to advocate for music education and to convey that music is extremely valuable to child development as a whole. My hypothesis was proven to be true; children who participate in music do have improved cognitive function. With this proven hypothesis I have learned more about advocating for music education, which in turn shaped my educational philosophy and allowed me to have good conversations about how music education is typically advocated for in the wrong way. Music education is constantly viewed as a means to enhance success in other courses, when it should be viewed and appreciated for what it is. So while my hypothesis was correct, I learned on a deeper level not to only frame music education’s importance on its ability to improve cognitive function in children.

Do Children Who Participate in Music have Improved Cognitive Function?

Tyler Cosley, November 23rd, 2020