Designing new , technology-based musical instruments in primary education

One of the ways in which pupils in Dutch primary education are being equipped with 21st Century Skills is through Design-based Learning. Building musical instruments could be an interesting entry point for Design-based Learning in music education. In this educational design research study, we explored how this approach could be applied to designing and building new, technology-based musical instruments. Workshops were developed on the principles of Design-based Learning and carried out in two cycles. Each cycle took place at a different primary school and was evaluated through observations, interviews with classroom teachers, and learner reports from pupils. The findings showed that the phases of Designbased Learning are helpful in structuring the pupils’ learning process when designing and building new, technology-based musical instruments. Furthermore, a Design-based Learning approach in music education holds the possibility for the development of the 21st century skills of problem-solving, creative thinking, and cooperation. The findings also illuminated challenges. Workshop leaders not only need to have content knowledge of science, technology, and music, but also need to know how to guide a design process and how to approach problems that can arise during that process, such as design fixation. 1 Michel Hogenes, PhD, is Principal lecturer at The Hague University of Applied Sciences and Codarts, Rotterdam University of the Arts, and independent researcher for the Arts Education Research Group of the Amsterdam University of the Arts, the Netherlands. 2 Anouk Diepenbroek, MSc, is Cultural Education Expert at FluXus Center for the Arts, Zaandam, the Netherlands. 3 Melissa Bremmer, PhD, is Professor of Arts Education at the Amsterdam University of the Arts, the Netherlands. 4 Marien Hogerheijde is teacher at Media College Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Journal of the European Teacher Education Network 2 Introduction The future of education and curriculum development are high on the agendas of Dutch educational organizations, educational support services, and politicians (Hotze, Bremmer, Heijnen, Beamer, Pijls & Roos, 2019; Nout, 2017). Now more than ever, it is being acknowledged that education plays an important role in preparing pupils to become citizens who can contribute to societal challenges, such as globalization, climate change, and migration (Groenendijk & Heijnen, 2018). In this context, the so-called 21st Century Skills – such as critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and media literacy – are receiving attention as pupils will need these skills to develop into critical citizens of our future society (Tanis, Dobber, Zwart, & Van Oers, 2014). One of the ways in which pupils in Dutch primary education are being equipped with these 21st Century Skills is through ‘Science & Technology’, which is not a separate school subject, but an approach to teaching and learning through ‘Inquiry and Design-based Learning’. This specific method of teaching and learning is based on how scientists and designers approach problems (Kraaij, 2015; TechniekPact, 2018). It allows pupils to explore and experiment, and to integrally acquire knowledge and skills (Van Keulen, 2010; Van Wessels, Kleinhans, Van Keulen & Baar, 2014). For instance, during Inguiry-based Learning pupils explore problems, set up small-scale research projects, carry out these projects, draw conclusions, and present their research outcomes. In the case of Design-based Learning, pupils sketch a design, realize the design, test it, and customize the design as part of a design cycle (Malmberg, Rohaan, Van Duijn & Klapwijk, 2019). This article will specifically focus on Designbased Learning. Although the approach is meant to be applied to any school subject in primary education, in the Netherlands Design-based Learning is mostly applied in the domain of the natural sciences and mathematics. This domain resembles the international movement of ‘Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics’ education, so-called STEM-education (Goldston & Downey, 2013). STEM-education originated in the late 1990s, and has known many variations. For example, it has included the R for robotics and the G for girls, and more recently, there has been a call to add the A for arts to create STEAM-education (Land, 2013). Bequette and Bequette (2012) note that examining how art, science, technology, and math can be integrated in artworks, and experiencing how the boundaries between these disciplines can be blurred, holds the possibility to develop thinking dispositions such as 21st