Browsing by Subject "Background music"

The objective of this study is to explore the impact of background music on three learning-related emotions among elementary students in Finnish schools, addressing a research gap in primary education. Previous research has primarily focused on in-person and higher education settings, along with the complexity of mood regulation through music, including listeners' emotional interpretation and preference. This investigation introduces background music interventions in primary mathematics classrooms, aiming to understand its effectiveness on learning outcomes. The present study was a two-condition (the presence of background music (BM) and passive control (PC)), crossover pretest-posttest comparison design. Participants were randomly assigned in the sequence of BM-condition and PC-condition with a one-day washout period, and each participant acted as their control. Last, the pretest-posttest design was implemented in each intervention regarding the assessments at different time points and the change in levels of learning-related emotions was compared between the two conditions. Mainly, this study investigated the impact of background music on the regulation of three learning-related emotions: mathematics anxiety, enjoyment, and boredom, within a classroom setting. The findings revealed that background music did not significantly influence students' emotional regulation. No significant changes were observed in levels of anxiety and boredom; however, the enjoyment experienced was marginally lower in the background music condition than in no music condition. Notably, gender differences emerged in the regulation of mathematics anxiety between the two conditions. Both females and males reported an increase in mathematics anxiety regardless of the condition. Yet, females exposed to background music showed a lesser increase in mathematics anxiety compared to the lesson with no music. This suggests a more pronounced effect of background music on females than males, highlighting the need for further exploration into gender-specific responses to educational interventions involving background music.