CHATHAM, Ill. (WAND) - Second graders at Chatham Elementary are learning how to play music through instruments they built themselves — combining engineering, technology and creativity in the classroom. Students in the school’s STEAM program recently used “Makey Makey” invention kits to create piano-like devices using wires, circuits and computers.
"We're using the 'Makey Makey,' which is an invention kit for design," said Chatham Elementary STEAM teacher Jaime Goin. "We talk a lot about the engineering process, asking why is it this way and how can we fix it?"
In the classroom, students connected wires from the "Makey Makey" device to a computer and programmed different sounds to play when the circuits were touched. Second grader Ivol French explained it this way in his demonstration.
“So this is our ground wire, and you have to hold it," French said. "Then you connect this red wire [to] the arrows and the space keys."
Once the device is set up correctly, the second graders played songs like "Jingle Bells" and "Mary Had a Little Lamb." When they hit the correct space on their device, it played the correct note through their computers.
As students experimented with the devices, they also learned engineering concepts like circuits, prototyping and problem-solving. Goin said the program encourages students to become creators instead of simply consumers of technology.
“We are doing engineering design, we're doing musical composition," Goin said. "These are the future jobs that will give us more aggressive thinkers and those creators that we need."
Goin also sees students develop more tenacity and grit through the process. It is meant to be difficult as a way to teach kids to fail.
“It was kind of hard at first, and then it built me [up] with confidence that I could do it, cause it wasn't a real piano, but it was kind of like a piano,” said Olivia Tobin, a second grader. "We started learning this on a bongo drum, and now we are on to piano."
Goin said every student in the Ball-Chatham School District participates in STEAM classes from kindergarten through sixth grade, with lessons becoming more advanced each year.
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