Creative Music programming workshop with Sonic Pi

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CertifiedEducation quality
09/2018
Creative Music programming workshop with Sonic Pi

Creative Music programming workshop with Sonic Pi

Mehackit
Programming
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A workshop for learning creative programming and music production. The workshop includes online materials for using an open-sourced music programming tool (Sonic Pi). The course is part of Mehackit Atelier

The Sonic Pi music programming workshop is intended for upper elementary and high schools students as an introduction to programming and computer music. During the workshop students get to create their own songs by writing code with Sonic Pi, which is based on the popular Ruby programming language. They also learn the basics of electronic music production by using synthesizers, samplers and sequencing with Sonic Pi.

The workshop is beginner-friendly and requires no previous experience on programming or electronic music. In the workshop, students get their creative tasks from Mehackit-instructor but there's supportive material also at sonic-pi.mehackit.org. Sonic Pi is an open source program available for free.

The duration of the workshop is approximately five hours and it can be held during one single day (with few pauses and a lunch break) or it can be divided in multiple days. Mehackit offers an instructor and free learning materials for the schools.

The workshops are available in English and Finnish.

The course is part of Mehackit Atelier.

Age groups 
Elementary
Middle school
High School
Price 
One time purchase
Languages 
English
Finnish
Korean
Norwegian
Platform 
Desktop Windows
Desktop Mac
Other
Registration 
Required
Offline play 
Playable offline
Pictures
Videos
Price 
One time purchase
The Creative Electronics and Programming course combines students' interests and creative ambitions with programmable electronics and prototyping.

The Creative Electronics and Programming course combines students' interests and creative ambitions with programmable electronics and prototyping.

The Sonic Pi course by Mehackit gives an interesting, low-threshold introduction to programming and computational thinking.

The Sonic Pi course by Mehackit gives an interesting, low-threshold introduction to programming and computational thinking.

Pedagogy
Educational Quality
Learning Goals

The pedagogical analysis covers how the product supports learning of the identified skills. The student’s role is assessed by four contrary pair parameters, which are selected to cover the most essential aspects on the use of the product.

Passive
Active
Users are active creators while learning with Mehackit. The aim of the courses is to create a song by programming and to do design projects with Arduino, so students can "learn by doing" with the support of an instructor.
Rehearse
Construct
Challenges are optimized as every user can create solutions according to their own difficulty level. Using technology for creative purposes creates an engaging environment to learn about programming.
Linear
Non-linear/Creative
Sonic Pi and Arduino courses facilitate open problem solving with unlimited learning possibilities. Mehackit's course gives a structure for learning.
Individual
Collaborative
It's ideal if every student has a device. Students can work independently. An important part of the creative process is that students can share their creative pieces with others during a course.

The following are the high educational quality aspects in this product.

Mehackit courses give an interesting, low-threshold introduction to programming, electronics, and computational thinking.
In the workshops, the students are actively and creatively solving problems. They can work alone or collaborate on a project.
The workshop materials are straightforward, so it is easy to execute the workshop even if the teacher is not familiar with Sonic Pi or Arduino electronics.
The broad music sample library of Sonic Pi and the variety of Arduino activities allow the students to approach the course from their own points of interest.

The supported learning goals are identified by matching the product with several relevant curricula descriptions on this subject area. The soft skills are definitions of learning goals most relevant for the 21st century. They are formed by taking a reference from different definitions of 21st century skills and Finnish curriculum.

Subject based learning goals

Understand and use mechanical systems in their products
Understand and use electrical systems in their products
Select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks accurately
Practicing creative computing
Understanding the concept of loops
Using programming to solve problems
Practicing computational thinking
Understanding the meaning of conditionals in programming
Understanding what algorithms are and how they can be used
Apply computing and use electronics to embed intelligence in products that respond to inputs, and control outputs, using programmable components

Soft skills learning goals

Learning to plan and organize work processes
Experiencing and exploring sounds and music from different sources
Using technology as a part of explorative and creative process
Practicing logical reasoning, algorithms and programming through making
Using technology resources for problem solving
Learning to find the joy of learning and new challenges
Practicing to evaluate one's own learning
Practicing to use arts as a way to express
Practicing to use imagination and to be innovative
Practicing creative thinking
Practicing to look things from different perspectives
Practicing to notice causal connections

The Finnish Educational Quality Certificate

Our Quality Evaluation Method is an academically sound approach to evaluating a product’s pedagogical design from the viewpoint of educational psychology.

The method has been developed with university researchers and all evaluators are carefully selected Finnish teachers with a master's degree in education.

More about the evaluation