Technology is everywhere at the district’s STEM-themed elementary school – including music class!
Fourth grade engineers at Thomas O’Brien Academy of Science and Technology (TOAST) wrote music and programmed robots with xylophones to perform their compositions Wednesday during their music class.
You can see a Facebook album of their work here. (You don't need a Facebook account to see the photos linked in the highlighted text. A window may appear that says, "To see more from Albany City Schools on Facebook, log on or create an account,” but you can dismiss it by clicking “not now.”)
It’s a project that music teacher Kim Reynolds is leading for students in kindergarten through fifth grade. In all cases, students work in teams with their classmates to create music. The work is all hands-on: Younger students learn very basic programming; older students like the fourth graders pictured do more sophisticated and purposeful coding.
Besides composing and coding, the fourth graders had to predict the movements their robot would make while performing the creation.
You’d think six robots playing different xylophone tunes at once might be tough on the ears, but the combined sounds are surprisingly melodic.
Thanks to the NERIC Model Schools Lending Library for loaning TOAST the robots!
