Coding + Composition + Chiptune Music Shawna longo Hopatcong Middle School shawnalongo@gmail.com
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ave you ever written any code? Maybe not, but all music educators have done at least some music composition. At the core, music composition and code have many similarities. The current trends of STEM, STEAM, Arts Integration, and Project-Based Learning provide opportunities for us to engage students and our colleagues in a more connected way of learning. Our educational system is evolving from the STEM craze to STEAM. STEAM is an acronym for “Science,
Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics.” Many people confuse the “A” for visual art, but it is representative of all arts disciplines (music, theater, dance, visual arts, and media arts). STEAM emphasizes the importance of STEM, but contends that the arts can create new ways of seeing, thinking, and learning. The connection that is made by adding, or acknowledging, the “A” stimulates inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking in the STEM world. STEAM encourages a student-centered classroom with teachers serving as guides, or facilitators, along the way. Arts Integration is another term in education right now. As defined by Susan Riley of Education Closet, “Arts integration is an approach to teaching and learning through which content standards are taught and assessed equitably in and through the arts.” What is the difference between STEAM and Arts Integration? STEAM falls under the umbrella of arts integration. And although there are similarities between the two approaches, they function differently. Below is a graphic to breakdown the similarities and differences between arts integration and STEAM. As part of the STEAM movement, coding is also at the forefront of education right now. Google results for “coding” displays six education-based websites are on the first page of the about 176,000,000 results. A user-friendly resource for coding is www.code.org. This website offers free educator training, as well as courses for students, broken down by grade level (elementary, middle school, and high school). Code.org even has learning modules for pre-readers. The website states: “25% of U.S students have accounts on Code.org.” “800K teachers use Code. org.” and “44 U.S. states changed policy to support computer science.” And, “10% of the world’s students have tried the Hour of Code.” Our daily lives are affected by coding and it has become a prominent component within our educational system.
TEMPO 38
MAY 2019
