Chatham Elementary’s Innovative Music Program
CHATHAM, Ill. (WAND) – Second graders at Chatham Elementary are combining engineering, technology, and creativity by building their own musical instruments. Through the school’s STEAM program, students have been utilizing “Makey Makey” invention kits to create piano-like devices made from wires, circuits, and computers.
STEAM teacher Jaime Goin emphasized the importance of the engineering process, encouraging students to ask questions about design and functionality. “We talk a lot about the engineering process, asking why is it this way and how can we fix it?” she explained.
In class, students connect wires from the Makey Makey device to a computer, programming various sounds to play when the circuit is activated. Second grader Ivol French demonstrated the setup, explaining, “So this is our ground wire, and you have to hold it. Then you connect this red wire to the arrows and the space keys.”
Once set up correctly, students were able to play songs like “Jingle Bells” and “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” hitting the right spots on their devices to produce the correct notes through their computers.
As they experimented, students also grasped key engineering concepts such as circuits, prototyping, and problem-solving. Goin noted that the program fosters a mindset of creation rather than mere consumption of technology, aiming to prepare students for future challenges. “We are doing engineering design, we’re doing musical composition. These are the future jobs that will give us more aggressive thinkers and those creators that we need,” she said.
Goin sees the project as a way for students to build tenacity and grit, noting that challenges are designed to encourage resilience. Second grader Olivia Tobin reflected on the experience, stating, “It was kind of hard at first, and then it built me [up] with confidence that I could do it, cause it wasn’t a real piano, but it was kind of like a piano.”
Every student in the Ball-Chatham School District engages with STEAM classes from kindergarten through sixth grade, with lessons becoming progressively advanced each year.
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