Playing, Constructionism, and Music in Early-Stage Software Engineering Education
Understanding that design involves trade-offs, thinking at multiple levels of abstraction, and considering the cohesion and coupling between sub-components of a larger whole is an important part of software (and other) engineering. It can be challenging to convey such abstract design concepts to nov...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Universidad Politécnica de Valencia
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, Social and Technological Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/MUSE/article/view/16453 |
| _version_ | 1819019054935965696 |
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| author | Nicolas E. Gold Ross Purves Evangelos Himonides |
| author_facet | Nicolas E. Gold Ross Purves Evangelos Himonides |
| author_sort | Nicolas E. Gold |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Understanding that design involves trade-offs, thinking at multiple levels of abstraction, and considering the cohesion and coupling between sub-components of a larger whole is an important part of software (and other) engineering. It can be challenging to convey such abstract design concepts to novice engineers, especially for materials that are themselves abstract (e.g. software). Such challenges are compounded when teaching at the secondary school stage where students have limited experience of large-scale design problems that motivate the need for abstraction at all. In this paper, we describe a method for introducing these concepts to secondary school students using LEGO® and Raspberry Pi computers, asking them to build musical instruments as an entertaining way of motivating engagement with learning about design through play. The method has been successfully piloted in a series of three classroom sessions and key observations and experiences of using the method are presented. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T03:29:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-45bae0e68e82492d97da9d535ed514ce |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2341-2593 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T03:29:13Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | Universidad Politécnica de Valencia |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, Social and Technological Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-45bae0e68e82492d97da9d535ed514ce2022-12-21T19:17:30ZengUniversidad Politécnica de ValenciaMultidisciplinary Journal for Education, Social and Technological Sciences2341-25932022-04-0191143810.4995/muse.2022.1645313517Playing, Constructionism, and Music in Early-Stage Software Engineering EducationNicolas E. Gold0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2195-5995Ross Purves1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4301-7024Evangelos Himonides2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8749-0799University College LondonUniversity College LondonUniversity College LondonUnderstanding that design involves trade-offs, thinking at multiple levels of abstraction, and considering the cohesion and coupling between sub-components of a larger whole is an important part of software (and other) engineering. It can be challenging to convey such abstract design concepts to novice engineers, especially for materials that are themselves abstract (e.g. software). Such challenges are compounded when teaching at the secondary school stage where students have limited experience of large-scale design problems that motivate the need for abstraction at all. In this paper, we describe a method for introducing these concepts to secondary school students using LEGO® and Raspberry Pi computers, asking them to build musical instruments as an entertaining way of motivating engagement with learning about design through play. The method has been successfully piloted in a series of three classroom sessions and key observations and experiences of using the method are presented.https://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/MUSE/article/view/16453constructionismconstruction-blocksmusicdesignchildrenlego® |
| spellingShingle | Nicolas E. Gold Ross Purves Evangelos Himonides Playing, Constructionism, and Music in Early-Stage Software Engineering Education Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, Social and Technological Sciences constructionism construction-blocks music design children lego® |
| title | Playing, Constructionism, and Music in Early-Stage Software Engineering Education |
| title_full | Playing, Constructionism, and Music in Early-Stage Software Engineering Education |
| title_fullStr | Playing, Constructionism, and Music in Early-Stage Software Engineering Education |
| title_full_unstemmed | Playing, Constructionism, and Music in Early-Stage Software Engineering Education |
| title_short | Playing, Constructionism, and Music in Early-Stage Software Engineering Education |
| title_sort | playing constructionism and music in early stage software engineering education |
| topic | constructionism construction-blocks music design children lego® |
| url | https://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/MUSE/article/view/16453 |
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