ABSTRACT: This article reports on the first phase of a multiyear summer program using music technology and computer coding as interventions to promote creative and algorithmic thinking for Underrepresented Minority Students (URM) in grades 3–8 at an urban nonprofit charter school in the Midwest United States. Drawing on Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, the research team comprised of faculty and peer mentors from music technology and secondary education examined how an informal learning environment engaged children to explore interdisciplinary connections between music and computing through beat-making, remixing, and programming in Soundtrap, a web-based Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), and Scratch, an open-source coding program. We discuss approaches designed to promote interdisciplinary STEAM connections and implications for future practice.
Authors: Daniel Walzer, Jerelle Austin, Christopher Dobbs, Timothy Hsu, and Monica A. Medina
Published 9/21/2025
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