Students share songs and science

After spending the last semester working with a local artist, Dunsborough Primary School students are preparing to show off a range of songs and music videos they have created.

Local musician and technology expert Mark Sadler has been working at the school as part of the Artist-in-Residence Grants Program and has been teaching staff and students about a range of programs.

Mr Sadler previously worked at Scitech for 13 years and has had students involved in making music using Garage Band, making stop-motion animation, song writing and movie-making.

“Technology is being introduced right across the curriculum in schools and in the arts it gives the students the opportunity to develop creatively,” he said.

The culmination of the work will be shown this weekend, when a number of music videos created by the students are screened.

Dunsborough Primary School teacher Helena Nicholson said the music videos had come about after Mr Sadler worked with students to produce three songs and music videos that teach science inquiry skills.

“The purpose of the songs is to implement learning of science inquiry skills, with the songs talking about predictions, observations and comparison in the junior song to advancing to independent and dependent variables in the senior school song,” she said. “They then looked at the storyboarding process, then created the music videos.”

The songs were written six weeks ago and were already making a difference in the students’ learning, Ms Nicholson said.

“It’s so ingrained in their minds and has already been working, they have been using them while doing tests,” she said.

Ms Nicholson said the school held a biennial art exhibition and decided to combine it with the music video competition this year.

“The staff have been upskilled professionally by learning to use these programs and for the students, they pick it all up really quickly and to have it facilitated by someone with Mark’s expertise is great,” she said.

“This is an amazing and once in a lifetime opportunity to have an artist with this skill set at the school.”

The science music videos with a short film about the process will be held on Saturday night at the school with the art exhibition, which will showcase visual arts pieces from 600 students.