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1. Board 309: Improving Teachers' Attitudes Toward Sound and Waves Through the Connections with Music

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--46887  

   Chow, Eunice; Li, Linlin; Akshay, Nagarajan; Barron, Alec; Yonezawa, Susan; Minces, Victor (June 2024, ASEE Conferences)

   Abstract: Children can feel disengaged from STEM subjects taught in schools, which are often presented in ways that are not connected to their interests and everyday experiences. The subject of waves is fundamental for understanding a variety of scientific and engineering processes, from gravitation to telecommunications. Furthermore, the subject of waves presents an excellent opportunity to bring to the school activities connected to one of children’s deepest interests: music. For this, we created Listening to Waves, a program that has been developing web applications and curricular activities that allows users to connect with the science of waves by playfully exploring and creating sound and music. Previous work by our team has shown that these types of activities can be powerful for engaging children in science, especially those typically underrepresented in STEM domains. However, a fundamental step for their spreading is that they are also engaging for teachers. To disseminate the program and evaluate its potential to engage teachers, we created a three-day professional development workshop for teachers serving underserved communities. We administered quantitative and qualitative surveys before the workshop, immediately after the workshop, and after the teachers implemented the materials in their classrooms. The surveys indicate that the experience improved teachers’ attitudes toward the subject, including their comfort in teaching the subject, their enjoyment, and their perception of the children’s enjoyment. This effect was particularly relevant for teachers who were not initially engaged, either because of a lack of experience or lack of knowledge. Taken together, these results indicate that activities connecting music and STEM have the potential to spread throughout the formal educational system by engaging teachers, and that they can be instrumental in engaging children in STEM. This research is funded by NSF’s ITEST award “Increasing Students' Interest in STEM through the Science of Music.” 

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2. Learning signal processing and waves through the connections with sound and music

   Minces, V; Barron, A; Yonezawa, S (June 2026, In 2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings. American Society for Engineering Education.)

   The understanding of waves and signal processing is foundational to physics and engineering. Signal processing enables the extraction, analysis, and interpretation of information from complex data, supporting technologies such as communication systems and imaging devices. While typically introduced in higher education, its conceptual basis—such as decomposing a signal into frequency components—can be meaningfully explored at the K–12 level. Sound and music provide intuitive and engaging contexts for introducing these ideas, making abstract physical and mathematical concepts tangible through sensory experience. In this study, we evaluate the potential of leveraging connections with music to support children’s learning of wave physics and signal-processing concepts. To this end, we use the ListeningToWaves educational program as the instructional and research framework. ListeningToWaves is an educational program that develops curricula, web applications, and hands-on activities designed to teach the physics of waves and signal processing through sound and music. Using this program, we examined how children can learn basic signal-processing concepts through structured classroom activities. Twenty eighth-grade teachers implemented the curriculum with approximately 1,000 students. Lesson evaluations showed that students successfully grasped core concepts in wave behavior, sound propagation, and signal analysis. The curriculum’s teacher-led structure required no specialized equipment or engineering expertise, presenting a scalable model for integrating wave physics and signal processing into K–12 education. This project was supported by the National Science Foundation’s Innovative Technology Experiences for Teachers and Students program. 

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3. IMPROVING TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD PHYSICS BY INTEGRATING MUSIC IN ONLINE AND IN-PERSON PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT. AN ITEST STUDY.

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--55751  

   Minces, Victor; Li, Linlin; Yonezawa, Susan; Chow, Eunice; Barron, Alec (June 2025, ASEE Conferences)

   In recent years, the use of virtual meetings in work settings has dramatically increased, and society has become more open to having large online meetings. This has expanded the possibilities of reaching and training teachers nationwide through online professional development. This expansion calls for a more thorough understanding of the effectiveness of online training. Building on previous research demonstrating the positive effects of music-centered PD on teachers’ perceptions of teaching the physics of sound and waves, we examine the comparative effectiveness of in-person and online PD modalities. The study utilizes a curriculum developed by our team, emphasizing hands-on and browser-based applications that allow teachers and students to playfully explore and create sound. Surveys conducted before, after, and following the classroom implementation of the curriculum assessed changes in teachers’ enjoyment, confidence, and content knowledge related to teaching science, physics, and sound. Results from 79 participating teachers, including 46 in virtual and 33 in-person workshops, reveal no significant differences in effectiveness between the two formats. Both modalities resulted in significant improvements in teachers’ attitudes. Teachers highlighted the value of well-organized resources, such as Google Slides with video tutorials, teaching tips, and structured lesson plans, which enhanced the ease of classroom implementation. These findings suggest that PD programs integrating music and science are equally effective across modalities and benefit significantly from teacher-friendly resource design. This study contributes to the ongoing evaluation of online and in-person PD, offering insights for designing impactful educational experiences. This work was funded by NSF’s Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST). 

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4. Teaching A Computer To Sing (TACTS): Integrating Computing and Music in a Middle School, After‐School Program

   Heines, Jesse M.; Walzer, Daniel A. (June 2018, Journal of computing sciences in colleges)

   This paper reports on an after‐school program that introduced middle school students to computing through music. The program ran for two years, from October 2015 through April 2017. It involved singing, encoding music with ABC notation, and programming music with Pencil Code. We describe the program’s goals and the activities students pursued, as well as suggestions for improvement. While rigorous evaluation of such a program is difficult, we present survey and focus group results that show that students’ attitudes toward the program were positive and that they did learn some programming. 

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5. Integrating Music and Flow-Based Programming Builds Teachers’ Confidence in Computer Science. An ITEST Program

   Liu, Zifeng; Zhang, Shan; Xing, Wanli; Minces, Victor; Israel, Maya; Barron, Alec (June 2026, American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference Proceedings)

   In recent years, computer science (CS) education has become a critical component of K-12 curricula, aimed at equipping students with essential 21st-century skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity [1]. As this field evolves, educators are increasingly exploring approaches to make CS education more engaging and relevant by incorporating the arts [2]. Among these approaches, integrating music into programming has gained significant attention for its potential to foster creativity and engagement. Music not only enhances the appeal of coding for students but also enables them to express their musical ideas in transformative ways that go beyond traditional performances [3]. Flow-based programming offers a particularly accessible and intuitive entry point for integrating programming with music [4]. Its user-friendly design aligns seamlessly with the structure of music, allowing students to compose, organize, and manipulate sounds in an interactive environment [5]. However, the success of such interdisciplinary approaches hinges on teachers, who serve as the primary facilitators of these innovative practices in the classroom. Teachers’ confidence, attitudes, and willingness to adopt new CS tools significantly impact the effectiveness of these methods and, ultimately, student outcomes [6]. For educators with limited or no prior experience in CS, professional development is crucial to building the necessary skills and confidence to integrate such tools effectively [7]. Recognizing this need, our study explored how flow-based music programming environments influence teachers’ confidence and attitudes toward CS education. The study involved ten elementary school teachers participating in a six-hour, in-person workshop focused on M-flow, a flow-based programming platform designed for creating music and organizing sounds. The workshop provided a hands-on curriculum that combined practical programming exercises with strategies for classroom integration. Our findings revealed significant growth across three key dimensions: self-efficacy, interest, and attitudes. These findings underscore the transformative potential of flow-based music programming in empowering teachers to embrace CS education. By enhancing their confidence, interest, and attitudes, this approach supports the integration of CS into classrooms, broadening students’ exposure to creative and technical opportunities. This work, funded by the National Science Foundation’s Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, contributes to the growing body of research on interdisciplinary CS education 

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