Keeping Mozart in Mind

Reviews / Votes

'Music hath charms...' and Dr Shaw and the M.I.N.D. Institute now clearly show that these charms extend to spatial and temporal reasoning in a form that can be harnessed as part of the educational process. Children are here shown to possess remarkable innate reasoning skills, and by permitting them to develop these skills through keyboard-based learning, the M.I.N.D. investigators have introduced a new educational paradigm that has already proven itself capable of enhancing the learning of math skills. Keeping Mozart in Mind can be read with equal interest by parents and educators and by experts in the field of cognitive neuroscience."-Professor Edward G. Jones, M.D., UC Davis, past President of the Society of Neuroscience

"It is a delight to see that a second edition of Keeping Mozart in Mind by Gordon L. Shaw will appear shortly and at a price that will make it available to a much broader demographic group. The book describes in a lucid form the discovery and application of a new approach to the teaching and understanding of mathematics and music. Rather than teaching by rote, Gordon Shaw and his colleagues at the M.I.N.D. Institute in California have found that spatial-temporal stimulation of the mind through music and suitably crafted video games can lead to a dramatic improvement in a child's understanding of mathematics. Children, regardless of cultural or ethnic background, appear to have an innate ability to master advanced concepts of mathematics if exposed to this type of stimulation at an early age. The program, which involves both music and math outlined in the book, is now offered at 43 schools to over 8,000 students. It is characterized by the infectious enthusiasm of teachers and students alike in stark contrast to the fearful attitude to the subjects so common among many taught under the old systems. On another level, the writing gives a rare glimpse of the unfolding of a brilliant synthesis of a scientific model of the workings of the brain. The new insights it has spawned gives one a warm feeling that the model has captured a critical piece of the real thing. Gordon has inspired a generation of colleagues and in the book he gives generous recognition of their contributions. It is a 'must read' for any educator or parent of school age children."-William A. Little, Professor of Physics, Emeritus, Stanford University"The brain research upon which this program is based is ground-breaking and provides us with a new pathway to reach students who are struggling with their understanding of mathematics..."-Claudia Kreis, Principal of Burnett Elementary School, Long Beach, California