Primary school children use campus noise to create a masterpiece

Combining Art, Science, Computing and Music to create a composition was the theme of a recent ‘noisy painting’ session, hosted on campus for 24 children with Special Educational Needs from four countries.

The children, from Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and local school Rowan Gate Primary School, took inspiration from ‘noisy paintings’ from the National Gallery and then captured sounds from around campus.

Using iPads, and the app Keezy, the children created sound samples and composed music in response to Cornelia Parker, Rousseau and Hockney paintings. The children then created pieces inspired by their musical creations.

Charlotte Bennett, a second year Primary Education Studies (7-11) Student, who spent the afternoon working with the children said: “Today has been a wonderful opportunity for me to get experience working with children from the UK and Europe to achieve a common task. Working with the children helped me develop my teaching style, I’ve worked on ways to overcome language barriers and best work with a group with varying education needs.”

Natalia Zencugova, a teacher from Rowan Gate Primary School, in Wellingborough commented: “This session has linked a number of important disciplines together in one activity; Science, Computing and Music to create digital and physical art.

“Connecting teachers and pupils from schools in Poland, Lithuania and Latvia and the UK to work on this project, exploring the sounds around us, as well as learning about each other’s cultures and improving our language skills has been great. This visit was part of an Erasmus + project, which has been in operation for two years already, and we’ve had the opportunity to travel to everyone’s home countries to learn.

“The University of Northampton and Rowan Gate School have strong links. we always enjoy using the fantastic resources and working with staff and students at the University. The University is a fantastically supportive learning environment for our pupils, and those involved in the exchange.”

Catch up with the children’s creations here

The children’s work will be shared with an international audience via the Digital Learning across Boundaries (DLaB) MOOC on STEM to STEAM in June.