Changes in Classroom Environment and its Impact on Student Learning Behaviors

Abstract

This action research study investigated the impact of playing background music on the time-on-task behavior of students in a high school American Studies class. The research participants were thirteen high school students attending a small K-12 private school in the Pacific Northwest during the 2024-2025 school year. During the first phase of the study, students engaged in working on homework tasks during in-class worktime without any music playing in the classroom. During the second phase, students worked with music playing in the background. This study used an interrupted time-series design to record the percentage of time-on-task for each day of the study and for each phase of the study. Although there was a slight increase in on-task behavior during Phase Two of the study, that increase cannot be attributed to the impact of music