A multiple case study of high school perspectives making music with code in Sonic Pi

The purpose of this study was to investigate perceptions of high school students who made music with code in Sonic Pi. This qualitative multiple case study focused on individuals in an extracurricular club at a public charter high school who volunteered to participate on-site and remotely asynchronously via Canvas learning management system. This study was guided by five research questions, including: (1) What musical ideas, if any, do participants report learning or demonstrate through making music with code in Sonic Pi? (2) How does making music with code impact participants’ perceptions of their music making? (3) How does making music with code impact participants’ perceptions of their ability to learn to make music? (4) How does making music with code impact participants’ interest in music courses? (5) How does making music with code impact participants’ interest in computer science courses? Participants completed research study materials, including a series of tutorials for Sonic Pi. Data included answers to questionnaires and surveys, multimedia artifacts including the source code and exported audio of participants’ music making, and interviews of participants that were codified and analyzed in two cycles, utilizing descriptive coding, values coding, and longitudinal coding. Participants’ code and multimedia artifacts revealed a close alignment to the four properties of sound, including: pitch, duration, intensity/amplitude, and timbre. Participants’ artifacts revealed themes and demonstrated ideas extending beyond the four properties, including: form, non-traditional music notation, and randomization. Participants all agreed their coded artifacts are music. Additionally, participants’ varied responses about musicianship and composers suggests that making music is something anyone can engage in, regardless of how one identifies themself. All participants agreed that Sonic Pi is a useful tool for learning and understanding musical concepts and that Western staff notation is not required knowledge for making music. Participants’ interests in music or computer science courses were impacted by their prior experiences in music and/or coding. This study concludes with a discussion of themes based on the findings

MuSciQ- A Musical Curriculum for Math

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)Music and math are related in that 1) they both rely on the basic understanding of numbers, proportions, intervals, measurements, and operations and 2) both require levels of abstract thinking and symbolic notation. Studies link music and math by examining, for example, how music may play a role in math performance. There are, however, few studies that examine how a musical curriculum may impact not only math performance, but math related variables including math anxiety, math self-efficacy, and math motivation. This study sought to develop and assess the feasibility of MuSciQ, a music technology-based curriculum, and explore how it might impact math anxiety, math selfefficacy, math motivation, and math performance in twelve fourth-grade students. Additionally, acceptability of the MuSciQ curriculum was assessed by students, a teacher, and a school administrator by using the Technology Acceptance Model. Participants experienced large, significant improvements in math anxiety scores and significant improvement in math motivation. Math performance and self-efficacy showed small, non-significant improvements. When split by gender, only math anxiety scores showed statistically significant improvement in males. As expected, there was a significant positive correlation between motivation and self-efficacy before and after the curriculum was introduced. There was also a significant positive correlation between technology acceptance and motivation. Surprisingly, although there were significant positive correlations between the pre- anxiety and motivation measures, there were no significant correlations after the curriculum was introduced. There were no significant correlations found between anxiety and technology acceptance. There was, however, a significant correlation between technology acceptance and self-efficacy. Technology acceptance and additional qualitative comments provided by students and administrators suggest MuSciQ is an easy and useful platform to promote music and math learning. These findings point to a need for further investigation into the influence of MuSciQ on math related variables

Computer Science at Community Colleges: Attitudes and Trends

This study aimed to understand the identity and attitude of students enrolled in computer science (CS) or programming-related course at community colleges nationwide. This study quantitatively evaluation data for estimating the relationships between students’ identity and attitudes toward computer science with prior programming experience and other demographic factors. I distributed the survey to community college faculty of computer science programs nationwide. Questions for this study were adapted from the Computing Attitude Survey developed by Weibe, Williams, Yang, & Miller (2003). Using two robust quantitative statistical methodologies, I investigated the correlations and predictability of previous programming experience, gender, race, and age with participants\u27 attitudes toward computer science. This study drew its inspiration from prior works of Dorn and Tew (2015) and Chen, Haduong, Brennan, Sonnert, and Sadler (2018), whose studies looked at previous experiences in programming with a favorable attitude toward computer science. The primary independent variable was a students’ prior programming experience. Under evaluation, the dependent variables were students\u27 programming experience and demographic characteristics such as race, gender, and age. This investigation showed a significant association between programming experience and attitude toward computer science. Among the demographic variables evaluated, students\u27 racial identity was the only factor found highly correlated with attitudes toward computer science. Future work will consider the association between participants\u27 accumulated college credit hours and specific programming language effects on computer science attitudes

Towards the convergence of music, mathematics and computing in the primary school through the use of a visual programming system designed for in-the-wild delivery

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.In comparison to the 2014 changes concerning the UK National Curriculum (NC) for Information Communication Technology (ICT) and maths, the NC for music has remained relatively unchanged. A decline in the number of students studying music in UK schools has also been noted throughout the last decade. Considering the NC statutory requirements for music, maths and computing at Key Stage (KS) One, this thesis argues that in a visual programming context, music harbours interdisciplinary symmetric correlations concerning both maths and computing. Thus, the NC statutory requirements for music, maths and computing at KS One are drawn together in a bespoke visual programming system called Music And Mathematics In Collaboration (MAMIC). MAMIC is a thematic-based interdisciplinary curricular connection visual programming system designed for inthe- wild use. MAMIC has been delivered by several non-expert practitioners from varying backgrounds (with minimal training), as part of four case studies across KS One and Two in situ. Based on the results from the case studies, the MAMIC library topology model is presented as a central contribution. This model employs multiple layers of visual programming abstractions which house the symmetric correlations across the music, maths and computing NC statutory requirements. The sequence number is presented at the syntegration concept of this model. From these findings, the MAMIC library topology model and the MAMIC interdisciplinary model can be used to design interdisciplinary visual programming systems for in-the-wild curricula. A pedagogical framework is also presented to illustrate ways that interdisciplinary visual programming can be incorporated into the primary school curriculum. Music’s potential as an interdisciplinary vehicle in a visual programming context is also explored. However, it seems this potential is difficult to access by in-the-wild nonexpert practitioners and students alike. Finally, this thesis presents several recommendations that aim to reposition music in a new interdisciplinary space by using a set of KS One interdisciplinary NC statutory requirements for the subjects of music, maths and computing

IMPACT: The Journal of the Center for Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning. Volume 10, Issue 1, Winter 2021

In this issue, a central question explored is, what kinds of programs and approaches can enhance interdisciplinary teaching and student learning? The essays in this issue explore this question in distinct and insightful ways. Grounded in her own experiences developing and running a Latin American and Caribbean Studies minor, one contributor argues that the minor enhances students’ interdisciplinary learning by exposing students to ethnic and racial difference, enriches student understanding of the depth and breadth of geo-cultural diversity, and prepares students to engage and work in multicultural settings. Writing together, two health educators highlight how various applications of service-learning pedagogy, such as traditional vs. online classroom approaches to service learning, application of service-learning strategies in the context of health education and health promotion, via internship courses and funded service projects, and the role of service-learning in enhancing core areas of responsibilities for certified health education specialists (CHES), can be a powerful interdisciplinary teaching and learning tool in health education. Finally, two faculty from the University of Tennessee interested in the Biglan/Becher taxonomy of disciplines, collaboratively show how the Biglan/Becher taxonomy of disciplines can be used to analyze disciplinary interrelationships in STEAM (STEM + Arts), with the ultimate goal of categorizing ways STEAM approaches can facilitate student learning in higher education. Our Impact book reviewers inform readers about new interdisciplinary and ground-breaking work in the under-researched area of parental incarceration, one author’s suggestions for how to teach undergraduates and still feel good about it, notes from a white professor in terms of teaching about race and racism in the college classroom, and, finally, another author’s arguments about how democracy can handle climate change