[{"command":"settings","settings":{"ajaxPageState":{"theme":"hm_theme","theme_token":"WPGpFdzCNL14ZSJdn18I6UzygZoZKGeZgwPFbnW7zlA","libraries":"eJwDAAAAAAE"},"ajaxTrustedUrl":{"form_action_p_pvdeGsVG5zNF_XLGPTvYSKCf43t8qZYSwcfZl2uzM":true},"pluralDelimiter":"\u0003","user":{"uid":0,"permissionsHash":"2af85631393b514cbde3779a1f71d92618d53b94b54ea1960d28b2e2d121ff12"}},"merge":true},{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/7057\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EHow music and movement can help kids understand maths\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe thrum of a violin string or beat of a drum might at first appear to have little to do with physics, fractions or angles. Indeed, science and artistic subjects like music have traditionally been treated entirely separately in education.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut researchers believe breaking down the arbitrary barriers between science and art could help pupils grasp tricky concepts more easily. It is leading to a new way of teaching that aims to combine science, technology, engineering, arts and maths, collectively known as STEAM.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We are trying to make this STEAM learning approach known to the educational community,\u2019 said Dr Vassilis Katsouros from the Athena Research Centre\u0027s Institute for Language and Speech Processing in Athens, Greece, and coordinator of a project called \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/rcn\/206030\/factsheet\/en\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EiMuSciCA\u003C\/a\u003E. \u2018When you bring people together from the arts and STEM subjects, they can work together to have very creative ideas.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis sort of interdisciplinary collaboration is increasingly common at university level and in industry, often leading to exciting new developments in technology, science and art. Dr Katsouros and his colleagues are hoping to introduce this way of thinking at an earlier stage.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWave theory\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe iMuSciCA project is using music to teach secondary school children about difficult concepts like wave theory in physics and equations in mathematics. Students \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/zenodo.org\/record\/1341741#.XLmeFJNKhR5\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Edesign a virtual musical instrument\u003C\/a\u003E on a computer, where they can alter its physical properties to understand how that impacts the sound it produces.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018If they change the metal that a string is made of then the way the string vibrates and the waveform of the sound it produces is different,\u2019 explained Dr Katsouros. \u2018The students can see how the density of the material affects the sound and see the sound wave it produces. It can help them understand concepts like frequency and amplitude.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018Visual information is not always the best way of communicating things like geometry or arithmetic.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EDr Monica Gori, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genoa, Italy\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team have created an online \u2018workbench\u2019 that allows teachers to incorporate the technology and tools developed as part of iMuSciCA into their lessons. Through the online tools, students can create stringed or percussion instruments using the iMuSciCA programme.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe technology can also enable students to learn other higher-level concepts like geometry and symmetry by demonstrating how changing the shape or orientation of a surface can alter the way sound is reflected off it. It can also provide insights into randomness and periodicity.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPupils are encouraged to work in teams to compose their own music, even creating physical versions of the instruments they have designed online with the help of 3D printing. At one pilot event students formed a band to perform together too.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018At the moment these are only wind instruments, as 3D printing in plastic is cheaper and easier than in materials like metal,\u2019 said Dr Katsouros.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESo far iMuSciCA has been piloted in 10 schools in Greece, France and Belgium, involving more than 300 students aged 15-16 years old. Sixty teachers have also taken part in workshops to learn how to incorporate the musical tools into their lessons.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMotivation\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We are still measuring and analysing the impact it has had,\u2019 said Dr Katsouros. \u2018But we have seen the motivation of the students increase considerably. Students at this age are very familiar and interested in music, so it seems to connect with them.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut music is not just providing new ways of teaching teenagers about science and mathematics. Researchers have been combining it with body movements, clapping and touching physical objects to develop new ways of teaching younger children too.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Visual information is not always the best way of communicating things like geometry or arithmetic,\u2019 said Dr Monica Gori, a neuroscientist at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in Genoa, Italy, and coordinator of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/rcn\/206189\/factsheet\/en\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EWeDraw\u003C\/a\u003E project.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHer team has been creating a series of games with technologies that encourage children under the age of eight to create \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/327048272_Enhancing_children_understanding_of_mathematics_with_multisensory_technology\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Eangles with their bodies or play with sound\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne game, called RobotAngle, uses movement-sensing cameras to detect when students spread their arms above their heads to create angles. Each angle is associated with different musical notes similar to those from a violin, with higher pitch used for acute angles and low pitch for obtuse angles.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ciframe src=\u0022https:\/\/europa.eu\/webtools\/crs\/iframe\/?oriurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FUeNjovdUdgg?rel=0\u0026amp;showinfo=0\u0022 width=\u0022853\u0022 height=\u0022480\u0022 frameborder=\u00220\u0022 allowfullscreen=\u0022allowfullscreen\u0022\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003ERobotAngle is designed to help children understand acute, obtuse and right angles by moving their arms.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe same system allows children to create fractions by opening their arms to change the numerator and legs to alter the denominator. Clapping was also used to trigger a drum beat in time with a moving spot on the screen, again helping to \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/320884828_A_multimodal_serious-game_to_teach_fractions_in_primary_school\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Eteach children about fractions through the use of rhythm\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnother game, called Cartesian Garden, allows children to draw shapes in a virtual environment by physically walking around a room to collect objects. A third, called Spaceshape, teaches children about three dimensional shapes by encouraging them to draw them and move them on a touch-screen.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETests\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EInitial tests in primary schools in Italy, Ireland and the UK by the WeDraw team saw more than 200 children try the games in 10 different classes. In each, half a class used the multi-sensory games for 15 minutes every day for a week as part of their lessons and the other half were taught using a simplified version of the game that used traditional visual techniques.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We are seeing improvement in most of the children,\u2019 said Dr Gori. \u2018For the Spaceshape game, for example, we saw an understanding of shape and 3D movement.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut some of the improvements only seem to be apparent in specific age groups. For example, the team only saw improvement in understanding of fractions and shapes in seven-year-olds.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018\u0027This is the age they should start to understand these concepts and so are more sensitive to the potential benefits,\u2019 said Dr Gori.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team have also been developing the multi-sensory techniques so they can be used by pupils who have dyslexia or visual impairments. Using body movements associated with sound can really help blind children understand angles, for example.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr Gori added that they hope in the future to combine the musical and body movements even further to use dance as a teaching tool.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018So far we have been using arm movements, clapping and sound, but it would be nice to use dance in the future,\u2019 she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe research in this article was funded by the EU. 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