Sound as an aid to learning in class.

Another very small poll indicates that some students learn better if there is a little background sound. When I asked what kind of sound the indication was: quiet talking.

They pay attention more and ignore the talking.

Then I asked adults the same question and got the same answer. Fascinating.

Here is a link to a good article on the subject. The article is called, Noise in the Classroom: Obstacle or Opportunity?.

Here is another really interesting article called, Sound control in the classroom, from the Behaviour Matters e-bulletin from Teaching Expertise. The site is a very good classroom management resource.

From New Zealand comes this interesting site page called, Students Managing Classroom Noise.

From The Institute for Enhanced Classroom Hearing, we have this article called, Sound Enhancement Systems: Description & Rationale.

On the other hand, here is a story from the Times Colonist newspaper dated Oct 2, 2007 called, Classroom noise hinders student learning, research shows.

It all depends on being able to hear the teacher of course, which is why microphones and surround sound speaker systems are becoming so popular in classrooms, especially classrooms with a poor teacher/student ratio.

Cheers - Mike