The teaching scenario SOS from Planet MUX808: Rhythms, Aliens, Conductive Materials, Synthesisers, and Robots on a Musical Mission! was published in The Music Classroom as a Laboratory for Creation and Experimentation: 17+1 STEAM Music-Education Scenarios by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Press. It is a complete learning proposal that frames music teaching as a narrative mission connecting music, technology, making and problem solving.
Beginning with an SOS message in Morse code, students use Makey Makey and Synth4Kids, explore conductive materials, construct musical artefacts and work with rhythmic and melodic patterns and improvisation. The learning sequence draws on maker culture, constructionism and design thinking, with the aim of developing musical creativity, collaboration, problem solving and computational thinking. The narrative structure motivates the sequence of activities and allows technical concepts to emerge within a coherent musical problem that needs to be solved. In this way, experimentation with materials and digital tools is directly connected with listening, performance, improvisation and creation.
