A pair of researchers from our Waterloo hub have worked through a participatory mapping interview to build our first pathway map and begin developing a case study. This is a great milestone for TRANSFORM, and will lay the groundwork for how we continue to collect case studies and understand the landscape of transformational change in SMEs. The enterprise for this first case study is Conductive Music, based in London, England. The initial mapping activity was carried out during two one-hour remote interviews followed by document analysis and coding of the data.
Conductive Music delivers high-quality STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math’s) education programs through art to students with challenging backgrounds (impoverished, special educational needs, English as a second language) in the UK and internationally. A school can have a Conductive Music facilitator come in and conduct sessions with students tailored to their age and the national curriculum. The workshops use interactive science and technology to create Music. They also test new technology and co-create lesson plans with students and educators using the technology based on the curriculum that teachers can employ in their classrooms long term. Check out their video here.
Students who participate in Conductive Music Workshops build resiliency by learning to play with, break and re-make technology, fostering creativity and building confidence. Conductive Music also researches new technology to add new workshops and advocates for integrated STEAM (STEM + Arts) education at the national level. They have recently begun to explore a partnership with the Stockholm Environment Institute to apply their methodologies to teach sustainability and environmental topics.
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“[It] Doesn’t really matter what skills you acquire, those are transferable – what matters is the power of acquiring skills and building resilience in kids. They often think it is because of them [that] technology doesn’t work, but we teach them that simply a mistake in the process and how to go about correcting this in the process of learning about exploring the world beyond them through technology. We are the only enterprise that deploy on this scale of creative technology, where creative is a real artistic approach to technology””
Our research team has started using the data collected from the initial pathway mapping workshop to build a visual representation of the Conductive Music eco-system. The pathway map provides a view of the different barriers and enablers to the organization’s success. It can reveal where capacity building interventions are needed outside of the organization to enable both more students to benefit from the methodology and educational approach that nurtures, innovation, community engagement, creativity, and resilience among youth. This graphic should be available soon, and we’ll be sure to share it when it is available.
In the coming months, interviews with Conductive Music stakeholders and partners will be conducted to more deeply understand their work, build out the pathway map, and provide more insight for analysis on the barriers that the organization faces.
Conductive Music has also been working closely with Dr. Jose Di Bella on how to work with communities in areas of climate risk to engage young people and community members to communicate sources and actions to reduce disaster risk and visualize climate adaptation through arts and technology.
