Towards the design of a kid’s music organizer

In this paper, we investigate how young children aged 2 to 5 interact with music and their family's music collections. By going into their homes, interviewing them and their parents and observing the children performing a range of music-related tasks, we explore the way that pre-school children select, interact with, and organize music. Additionally, drawing tasks were included in the visits to engage the children and allow them to demonstrate their thoughts in a concrete manner. Insights into the children's' music behaviours suggest design features for a music organizer / player for very young children

Youth and Unions

[Excerpt] Following a suggestion from the Cornell ILR Labor Advisory Counsel in early 2009 Cornell ILR began studying the relationships between young workers and unions. Marlena Fontes, a Cornell student, worked with Cornell Extension Faculty Ken Margolies and others during the summer of 2009 on the study. The study is based on a literature review, survey research, observations and focus groups. The report provides a glimpse into the issues that are facing young people and unions and how unions are seeking to organize and involve young workers and members. The table on page 9 summarizes the survey research conducted by Ms. Fontes and two other Cornell summer Fellows

Spartan Daily, September 6, 2017

Volume 149, Issue 6https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartan_daily_2017/1047/thumbnail.jp

Kid's Music Box: A Digital Music Organizer Designed with Children for Children

This thesis is an investigation of software development for children aged six to ten years old. This is a challenging area; despite the trend for children to be exposed to computer technology at an earlier age, they often struggle to utilize it effectively. Children are not merely miniature adults; they have their own needs which are often not met by traditional software. In particular, this thesis focuses on the task of music management: a task that children take much interest in but for which they are given few tools. We address this with the design of a new music management system: the Kid's Music Box. The development of Kid's Music Box is documented in four main parts: background research, requirements gathering, design and implementation, and evaluation. Background research identifies the strengths and weaknesses of conventional music organizers with respect to young users. Requirements gathering took the form of a focus group study, which aimed to overcome the distinct challenges of obtaining input from children. The design of Kid's Music Box builds on this work, by incorporating functionality, metaphors and design elements that suit the needs and capabilities of young children. Expert evaluations and formal evaluation from children users showed promising results, which concluded that Kid's Music Box is better than other organizers in terms of managing music for children

'The show must go on': Event dramaturgy as consolidation of community

Event dramaturgy and cultural performance have not been examined in the literature from a strategic standpoint of fostering the social value of events. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore the case of the Water Carnival, a celebratory event in a rural community of Southwest Texas, demonstrating the essence of this event as a symbolic social space, wherein event participants instantiate a shared and valued sense of community. A hermeneutical approach was employed, interpreting the event and its symbolisms as a text, combined with findings from ethnographic fieldwork, including participant observation, in-depth interviews and analysis of archival documents. The study examines the ways that dramaturgy in the Water Carnival helps frame the ongoing public discourse for community improvement and enhances social capital. The implications of the study for social leverage of events are discussed. It is suggested that a foundation for strategic social planning is the understanding of events as symbolic social spaces and their embeddedness in community development, which can be accomplished when events are pertinent to public discourse, address community issues, represent an inclusive range of stakeholders, and promote cooperation

Conjunto clash : competition and sustainability in 21st-century cultural heritage management

Scholar Dan Margolies has noted the growing presence of music initiatives in the Texas-Mexican conjunto community that conform to the framework of “cultural sustainability,” as defined by ethnomusicologist Jeff Todd Titon (Margolies 2011: 30). Titon’s model “decenters the top-down discourse by cultural heritage experts, and instead … repositions cultural workers collaboratively” (Titon 2009: 703). One program identified by Margolies as culturally sustainable is the Big Squeeze statewide youth accordion contest (Margolies 2015). The Big Squeeze attempts to promote the many accordion traditions of Texas by showcasing talented young performers. In practice, the event conforms to a co-operative mode of cultural heritage management in that it stages auditions throughout the state, often in underserved or rural areas, and collaborates extensively with local musicians, teachers, cultural workers, and business owners. The Big Squeeze has also created professional opportunities for its winners. On the other hand, many issues emerge as a result of the event’s sustainable structure. In the case of conjunto, the element of competition is at constant odds with the music’s resonance as a symbol of working-class solidarity among Mexican-Americans. More broadly, competition can have the effect of discouraging young participants from playing. Other problems arise when attempting to address the needs of multiple music communities through one framework. Ultimately, the lessons from the Big Squeeze build upon Titon’s scholarship by identifying and attempting to create solutions for unforeseen issues presented by culturally sustainable heritage efforts.Musi

Embodied Discourses of Literacy in the Lives of Two Preservice Teachers

This study examines the emerging teacher literacy identities of Ian and A.J., two preservice teachers in a graduate teacher education program in the United States. Using a poststructural feminisms theoretical framework, the study illustrates the embodiment of literacy pedagogy discourses in relation to the literacy courses’ discourse of comprehensive literacy and the literacy biographical discourses of Ian and A.J. The results of this study indicate the need to deconstruct how the discourse of comprehensive literacy limits how we, as literacy teacher educators, position, hear and respond to our preservice teachers and suggests the need for differentiation in our teacher education literacy courses

Out With the Old, In With the New Digital Era Instruction: 21st Century Education Must Conform to the Needs of Digital Kids

Modern day youths are known for their tech savvy ways and dependency on digital devices. They choose to spend their free time in front of a digital screen chatting, taking and sending photos, playing games, drafting emoji messages, etc. These youths are then expected to attend school and remove all electronic devices and pay attention for 6+ hours a day in each seat for at least 40-minute intervals. The relevancy to learn is lost; students can hardly see any relevancy in the content being learned at school with their own lives filled with technology and immediate driven results. Thus, it is imperative that educators evolve right along with society to ensure students are engaged and motivate to learn while still obtaining the necessary knowledge and skills for future successes. Educators must adapt 21st Century skills within their curriculum to better support students’ success in the modern world. Unfortunately, teachers lack adequate instruction for our 21st Century learners due to unsupportive administration and lack of resources to name a few. It is up to modern day educators to find the balance between content and 21st Century skills and inspire our current day screenagers to become successful adults in society post-graduation

An Exploration of Song as a Strategy to Engage Elementary Students During Social Studies Lessons

The purpose of this thesis is to explore how curriculum-related songs provide an engaging atmosphere for elementary students learning social studies concepts. The investigation done for this thesis examines the resources available to teachers in terms of songs to be used for pedagogical engagement of social studies lessons. Through research and video analyzations it can be concluded that students are overall intrigued by the usage of songs in their social studies lessons. During the social studies lessons observed in the video analyzations, the elementary students are focused, exhibit positive body language, participate, and have fun. Since engagement is documented within the analyzed videos and supported through others\u27 research to be beneficial for students, this thesis researched and found a place for songs in elementary social studies lessons. Since there are a lack of current social studies resources that contain a musical element, eight social studies lesson plans were produced specifically for this thesis to demonstrate how songs can be implemented into the elementary curriculum to engage students

Spartan Daily November 6, 2012

Volume 139, Issue 38https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/1354/thumbnail.jp