Musical penguin helps children learn math

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RIVERBANK, Calif. -- Jiji visits classes at Crossroads Elementary in Riverbank, Calif. twice a week, and students crowd into the computer lab during recess to get some extra time with him.Or could Jiji be a "she"?Nobody's quite sure when you're talking about a bug-eyed, animated penguin that guides students through learning fractions and long division on their computer screens.The software, created by the nonprofit MIND Research Institute in Santa Ana, Calif. uses the techniques behind learning music to help children master math.The MIND (Music Intelligence Neural Development) program has been adopted by 270 U.S. schools. Crossroads Elementary began a pilot of the program this year.Kindergarten through fifth-graders using the MIND program have two weekly sessions with Jiji, who teaches math by using pictures and patterns.Andrew Coulson, president of MIND's education division, said the software eliminates the complex words and symbols that often get in the way for students still learning basic concepts.So it's up to a penguin to teach them through pictures: unfolding a piece of paper to show how to multiply by two, for example."Neuroscientists say we're hard-wired to do that really well," Coulson said. "This is training in visual problem-solving, in thinking more than one step ahead." Students get more practice thinking in patterns and visuals by spending an hour a week learning to read notes from music books and playing keyboards.Crossroads Principal Marti Reed said deciphering musical notes and stringing together math equations requires the same intense focus and practice."When they're learning to read the patterns in music, it's almost like a math problem," Reed said. "How those chords, like two plus two equals four, make that actual sound is almost like learning a second language."Sylvan Union School District board member Chad Brown said he plans to "pound the pavement" to find sponsors to put Jiji into each Sylvan school. At about $45,000 per school for the keyboards and software, it doesn't come cheap.The chance to raise test scores is what has Brown and other educators most excited. One example: 94 percent of fourth-graders in a high-achieving southern California elementary school using MIND were rated proficient or better on the state math test, compared to 73 percent of their peers who did not use the program, according to MIND."I'm so excited about what I think will happen," Brown said. "Just think what that could do to our local economy. Businesses are crying for a better-skilled, better-educated employee. If there's a way we can make that kind of progress, why should we limit it to one school?"On a recent afternoon, Crossroads Elementary third-grader Cody Ferfes demonstrated his keyboard fingering as Jiji celebrated Cody's 100 percent math score."Sometimes, I don't like math," said Cody, 8. "But this was cool, so I started playing it."Teachers there are rewarding students with passes to use the computer lab during recess."They get crazy about it," said third-grade teacher Jon Webb.In music specialist Silver Lamb's room, rows of new silver Yamaha keyboards are backed against photos of muses, from Miles Davis to Linkin Park, and a sign that reads "Country Music is Three Chords and the Truth."Students start their music lesson lying on the rug with their eyes closed, listening to Mozart.It's another opportunity to inject neuroscience into the classroom. The term "Mozart Effect" was coined in the early 1990s when psychologists found certain reasoning skills were temporarily enhanced by listening to Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major.Third-grader Cody showed off his technique: He closed his eyes, slowed his breathing and folded his hands over his stomach."You close your eyes and listen to the music," he said. "Learning piano for the first time, it's awesome."Students in Dina MaAgma's second-grade class recently returned after a four-week vacation from their year-round school schedule. But MaAgma pored over spreadsheets that showed 5 percent to 20 percent improvement in her students' scores on the software program.Elliott Rightmire, 7, turned around to flash a perfect infomercial smile from behind his computer screen."It's educational fun," he said.E-mail Merrill Balassone at mbalassone(at)modbee.com(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)